Love is in the Air
by veVeon
Summary: Elena and Stefan decide to move away from Fell's Church. They end up tangling themselves into some pretty deep stuff.
1. The Beginning

**So…this is my first fanfiction. I'm really nervous about how this turned out, so please review! Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of Vampire Diaries or the Night World Series… even tho I wish I did… :( except my own characters! Enjoy!**

Love is in the Air

"Where are we going Stefan?" An exasperated Elena asked.

"I told you before, you'll see." Stefan replied.

Elena had picked Stefan over Damon last month, and they were going off to somewhere else, somewhere that wasn't Fell's Church because of the dangers.

Frowning, Elena turned to her window. She couldn't believe it! For once, Stefan wasn't telling her _anything._ Not where they're going, or whose place they're staying at. Nothing. Squinting at the landscape outside her window, Elena made out lots of blurry shapes. Hardly surprising, considering it was raining. _How strange._ Elena thought. _It's as if Fell's Church is crying because we're leaving. _As soon as she thought that, Elena felt herself wishing, wishing that Fell's Church was a place that didn't attract the supernatural. Elena scoffed at this thought. If Fell's Church didn't attract the supernatural, then she wouldn't have met Stefan. She rolled her eyes at herself.

Hearing the quiet scoff, Stefan looked at Elena, worriedly.

"What's wrong?" He asked softly.

"Oh…I was just thinking about some things." Elena smiled slightly, trying to reassure him.

Stefan raised an eyebrow. "And what things might that be?"

Elena looked at him. _Should I tell him? _She thought. _After all, he seems as unhappy as I am about leaving. _Sighing, she slowly raised her head to look at him. "I…The…Nothing." She grimaced. "Never mind."

Stefan stopped the car. Elena looked out the window, and saw that they arrived at a parking lot. She confusedly turned back to him, and asked, "This is it?"

Stefan grinned at her. "Of course not. You think we're going to live in a parking lot for the rest of our lives?" He teased.

At this, Elena rolled her eyes, but smiled back.

"We're just stopping here for a while, because a certain girl won't tell me what she's thinking about." Stefan continued.

Elena dropped her gaze to her hands, which were folded in her lap. "Well, I'm just… I'm just confused to why you wouldn't tell me where we're going!" She lied.

Stefan gazed at her and then smiled. "Well, I'll just tell you that it has something to do with Twilight." His oak-green eyes twinkled at her.

Elena glanced sharply at Stefan. _How did he know about my love of the Twilight Saga?!_ She shrieked silently. _Well, I asked Bonnie and Meredith for their advice. _A voice said sheepishly in her mind. _I wanted to know what some of your likes and dislikes were. Just in case. So I read the Twilight Saga. _Elena was shocked. How could they tell him that?!

"So you don't like it?" Stefan asked worriedly, out loud.

"Of course I do! I'm just… surprised." Tears of happiness were in Elena's eyes.

Stefan nodded to himself. _So can please not ask me that question anymore?_ Stefan asked Elena silently. Elena thought for a minute, and then reached over to kiss him. _Fine. Since you spent so much effort._ Stefan gladly lost himself in the kiss.

A few minutes later, a black 911 Turbo Porsche drove away, with two starry-eyed passengers.

**What do you guys think? Please review! This is just a start, and they haven't met Nightworld people yet. And I'm going to write more, to find out how they meet them. Review!!!!!!!!!!! :)**


	2. Adventures

**Ok, so this is the second chapter. Hope you guys like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters of the Nightworld Series or the Vampire Diaries… (even though I wish I do) except my own :) Enjoy!**

Love is In the Air, Chapter 2: Adventures

Stefan has been driving for a few minutes. At least he thought so. He wasn't so sure about time while he was with his beautiful Elena. At this thought, he glanced sideways at her. Elena was sleeping, head resting gently against the car window. Her long, silky, golden hair was draped over her shoulders and onto one of her cheeks. Her rosy lips were parted slightly, and as she breathed, her chest raised and lifted. With a pang, Stefan realized how lucky he was to be with her. The time when she was still deciding to pick him or Damon was nerve-racking, for if she picked his evil older brother, he would be alone forever.

Shaking his head at this painful thought, he continued to drive.

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Elena awoke with a start – she had been dreaming about the past. Shuddering, she opened her eyes. She discovered that it was dark, and she was in Stefan's arms. They were once again parked under a tree, to hide them from sight. She gently unwound Stefan's arms around her, kissed him softly on the cheek, and stepped outside.

The air was cool, and Elena unconsciously shivered and wound her arms around herself. The bright moon was shining brightly, and many stars were twinkling at her. Elena looked around herself. They were right beside a bare parking lot and some trees. Elena sighed quietly, and moved to open the door.

"Hello, little lady." A voice called, and Elena's hand froze on the door handle. "Whaddaya doin here alone?"

Elena whirled around and saw a drunken man stumbling towards her. _Stefan._ She immediately thought and turned to open the door.

Only to find it locked.

_Shit._ She looked around frantically and didn't see anything that could help her.

"Don't be afraid, baby. I'm here to protect you!" The man continued to head towards her. Elena finally got her frozen body to react, and started pounding and kicking at the car. Anything to get Stefan to wake up.

_Come on… Come on…_ Elena continued to kick, while the drunk sauntered towards her. In a few minutes, he would be able to touch her. As she turned, she saw his face under the pool of light from the lamp. His chin was unshaven; his hair was oily and messy. When he grinned at her, she saw lots of yellow teeth. Frightened, she turned to the door, screaming for Stefan, out loud, as well as mentally. _Stefan, goddamn it! Wake up you idiot! I'm being friggen attacked here!!!_

Finally, Stefan's eyelids fluttered and he quickly snapped awake. He turned where Elena was kicking and shouting, and in one fluid motion, got out of the car. Elena looked at him, frustrated but relieved and said, "You know, you could've just unlocked the door."

Stefan clearly wasn't fully awake yet, because he just looked at her and said, "Huh?"

Exasperated, Elena pointed to the drunken man that was shouting incoherently and explained in sharp whispers. "He was coming to do something to me. So I tried to get in the car. But then the door locked itself so I couldn't. Then I started yelling and stuff to get your attention so you would unlock the door."

Understanding lit Stefan's features as he silently flew inside the car, unlocked the door and started the car. Elena swiftly opened the door, and the car zoomed away, with the drunken man shouting behind them.

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A few hours later, Elena asked, "So… are we there yet? I think I'm starting to get car sick." As Stefan looked alarmed, Elena quickly added, "Not in the throwing up way. I'm starting to feel cramped up."

"Oh, we're almost there. If we drive for a few more hours, we'll probably be there." Stefan answered, looking relieved.

"Alright." Elena sighed.

Stefan chuckled at her frown and softly caressed Elena's cheek. "I think you'll like the place." _Well, at least I hope so._ He added silently.

Elena looked up slowly, easily reading his silent thought. "Of course I'll like it. It doesn't matter where you take me, just as long as if you're with me." Stefan gazed at her lovingly, as he pressed his foot on the gas pedal. Still staring at her, he thought of all the good times he was with her.

"Watch out Stefan!!! You're going to crash!!!!" Elena's shriek shocked Stefan out of his daydreams. He turned to look in front of him and saw that Elena was right; he was truly going to crash into a sleek, black Porsche Carrera GT, which was slowing down, for some strange reason. While admiring the car, Stefan wrenched his own Porsche out of the way with loud a screech at the last possible moment, as Elena grabbed on to whatever she could hold on to. Luckily, Stefan had his supernatural reflexes and finally made it back safe on the road. Elena, however, stayed frozen; had her muscles locked, and was breathing in short bursts.

"Don't you EVER do that again." She whispered sharply.

Stefan in response pulled up to the side of the road and parked. He looked at Elena and started to worry about her stiff position. _Was she in shock? _He reached over and cupped her face between his hands, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs, to try to soothe her. Elena was still rigid, so Stefan leaned over and started to kiss her passionately. After a while, Elena softened, and she pulled him closer to her, while kissing back. Stefan sighed in relief mentally, and said in her head, _I thought you were so shocked that I had to take you to the hospital._

_Hmph. That was actually pretty terrifying. _She thought, dazedly.

A horn honked at them loudly, and they jumped apart. Looking through Elena's window, they saw the black Porsche that Stefan had almost crashed into whiz by and the driver stuck their hand out of the window, flipping them the bird. It zoomed out of sight, but not before Stefan caught sight of the license plate. It spelled, HAWK GAL. _How strange…_ Stefan thought, puzzled.

Elena, on the other hand, was raging, shouting at the driver, even though no one was listening. "How rude! Do they have any manners? It wasn't as if Stefan tried to crash into you on _purpose!_ How could—"

"Shh. Elena, it's okay." Stefan interrupted, before she actually started swearing. Elena took a look at Stefan, sighed, and then calmed down. "I'm sorry. I just lost control there." She did a double take and turned her gaze back to his face. "Stefan!" She exclaimed. "When was the last time that you fed?" The circles under his eyes were darker, and his face was paler than usual.

Stefan grimaced, and replied tiredly, "It's fine. I'm fine. I'll go hunt later. Don't worry."

Elena mirrored his sigh, and knew that this wasn't the first time he shunned his nature. "You better. I don't want a sick vampire in my hands" She told him, worriedly.

"I know. Just let me get to our new home first." Stefan said.

Elena felt a thrill run through her. Our home. Stefan just said _our_ home. She sighed happily, and turned to her window once again, to admire what landscape she could make out.

The couple drove on, in the dark sky, as the stars twinkled and the moon shined above them.

**So, ****what did you guys think? This chapter was more adventurous and longer than the one before. Anyhoo, REVIEW!! Please? I need your support and critisim to improve my writing! Thanks guys! **


	3. Las Vegas

**Hiiii!!! Sorry for not posting this sooner… I didn't have time. Anyhoo, I don't own any characters-they're all L.J Smith's! I only own my own. Enjoy! And REVIEW PLEASE!!**

Love is in the Air, Chapter 3: Las Vegas

The bright rays of the sun slowly pierced through Elena's consciousness, rousing her from sleep. She groaned softly and buried her head between her arms.

"Are you awake Elena?" A gentle voice asked her.

Groaning once again, she opened her eyes and drowsily turned her head towards the voice. Stefan put an arm around her, squeezed lightly, and smiled at her. Elena smiled back sleepily and snuggled up to him, causing Stefan to chuckle softly.

"Morning sleepyhead." He looked up to the sky. "Turn around to the light... Please? I want you to see something." He added, as Elena shook her head stubbornly. It took a whole lot of pleading and kissing to get her to look up.

Finally, Elena looked into the sky, and gasped.

The sun was rising, like a golden ball pulsing with muted energy. It was suspended in mid air, turning the sky into a colourful palette, mixing hues of pinks, oranges, and blues together.

"It's…" Elena searched for the right word. "Beautiful." She settled for the common word. Stefan stroked her cheek softly, and murmured, "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Ju–Elena is the sun." He corrected smoothly.

Elena raised her eyebrows, but remained silent. _I'll ask later._ She decided.

They silently continued to watch the burning ball of fire rising into the air, continued to watch as the dark blues began to fade away, leaving warm, fiery colours in its place. When the sky turned to baby blue, Elena began to notice some strange things. She was lying on top of soft green grass, in Stefan's arms, with a blanket covering them – not in a car. She sat up suddenly, and looked around sharply. They were on a hill, and it was nowhere in sight.

"What wrong Elena?" A worried Stefan asked her.

"Where _are _we?" She asked incredulously. One moment they were on the road, the next moment they were on a grassy _hill_? _What?!_

Stefan laughed. "Elena, calm down. Look behind you. That's the road." She looked, and saw that he was right. Their car was parked neatly beside the curb. "When you were sleeping, I brought you up here 'cause this is probably the last bit of soft, wet nature we're going to see." He continued.

The last bit of soft, green nature? Well that's a hint, Elena thought sarcastically. She wasn't familiar with the world, and geography was one of her worst subjects at school. "Can you tell me where we're going _now_?" She gazed at him with pleading eyes.

"I'm sorry Elena. But… No." Stefan smirked as Elena pouted. "It's a surprise, love. Get used to it. But don't worry – we're almost there." Elena still sat there, pouting, so Stefan reached over, and pressed his lips to hers. He felt her refuse to kiss him back, but as he forced her to respond, she finally resigned, and threw herself at him.

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A little while later, Stefan and Elena were in the car, both with slightly flushed cheeks. It was then Elena remembered that Stefan had said something when they were watching the sun.

She asked curiously, "What did you say before, when we were watching the sunrise?"

Surprised, Stefan quickly glanced at her. He didn't think she'd heard him before. "Oh. I was just reminded about a play, that's all." He shrugged.

"But what did you say?"

"Just a line from the play."

"Can you say it please?"

Stefan sighed, and said softly, "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Elena is the sun."

Touched with the change in the line, Elena's heart was singing with elation. She smiled faintly, but couldn't speak.

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A few hours later, Elena played with the radio dial. The car was filled with static, music, static, and back to music again. Impatience growing in him, Stefan gripped the steering wheel harder and harder. Elena didn't notice. Static, music, static, music… Finally, Stefan couldn't stand it. Static, music, static, static, music, static, music, music--

"Will you just stick to one channel?!" He exploded.

Elena's fingers paused on the dial, and she glanced at Stefan. He was actually taking deep breaths. The car was filled with static, and bits of classical music drifted in and out of focus. Having the inappropriate impulse to giggle, Elena turned away and smirked at the window.

Stefan peeked sideways at Elena with a smile tugging at his lips and said soberly, "Elena, love, can you please, err, change the station?"

Peeking back at him, she saw that his mood had shifted and he wasn't angry anymore. "I'll see what I can do." She answered in the same tone.

Elena fiddled with the dial once again, found a station with ok music, and stuck with it. Finding the silence (apart from the music) slightly awkward, she started to sing along, not caring if she was off-tune. Peeking sideways at Stefan, she saw a smile playing along his lips. Unable to hold it in, Stefan burst into laughter.

"You—you—can't—sing!" He got out between fits of laughs.

"Whatever." She pretended to pout. Stefan reached over, and brushed her cheek lightly. Elena knew that the awkwardness was broken, so she stopped singing long enough to lightly kiss Stefan on the cheek. She settled back in her seat, satisfied, and continued.

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A hand brushed her cheek tenderly, and Elena stirred. She yawned, while stretching, and hit her knuckles on the ceiling of the car. Her eyes snapped open, and she shrieked "Ow!!" while rubbing them furiously. Hearing a chuckle, she scowled, and ceased her rubbing a little.

"Look, love, we're here! Guess where we are." Stefan asked with muted excitement.

Elena turned her attention from her knuckles to the scenery outside her window. There were lots of pointy things, and there wasn't a trace of grass anywhere, except in lawns and backyards. When she looked in front of her, she gasped. Even though it was night, the place was _bright._ Really bright. There were buildings and cars, signs, and lights everywhere. Buildings with lights decorating it in yellow, green, blue, red, every colour. Streets full of cars. Signs with neon lights glowing. It was loud, too. Elena could her music pumping onto the streets, people arguing and the occasional honks of cars. She was staring with awe outside. It was so different with Fell's Church – Fell's Church was quiet, this place was loud. Fell's Church was full of nature. This place was full of buildings, cars, and things made by humans. Fell's Church was peaceful, at least without the supernatural things, and this place was… _busy_. People were hurrying on the streets, and even though it was dark, there were line ups everywhere. Elena was truly struck speechless.

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Stefan glanced at her in worry, as he made his way on the roads._ She hadn't spoken yet. What if she doesn't like it? After all, Fell's Church was a lot more peaceful, aside from the paranormal things, and this place was… just the opposite_, He thought broodingly. However, he didn't push her. He drove to their new flat, parked, and waited patiently for Elena to speak. Minutes passed. She still hasn't spoken. Stefan gave up on waiting for her, and was just about to speak, when Elena finally said something in a shaky voice.

"So. You took me to Las Vegas?"

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_I can't believe it. How could Stefan take me to Las Vegas?_ Elena thought. She had just gotten a tour of their new home, a rather big flat with all their new furniture. She had to admit, she was impressed. Stefan had good taste in furniture and he was smart in putting all their furniture in place beforehand. After the tour, he decided to take a night walk with her, along with exploring their new neighbourhood.

"Are you sure you like Vegas? I mean, if you want to go somewhere else, it's okay with me." Stefan said anxiously, for the millionth time.

Elena rolled her eyes. "I'm sure I want to stay."

"Are you absolutely sure? We can really--"

"I'm sure," Elena said firmly. "Las Vegas is just different from Fell's Church. But in a good way." She added, as he looked alarmed. "All I need is a little time to get used to it."

Stefan still didn't look convinced, so Elena pulled him under a nearby tree, and put her hands on her hips.

"Look Stefan. I can't have you in this mood when we're here." She gestured to him. "It's my first time out of Fell's church, so I need you to be your regular self." Pursing her lips thoughtfully, she stated, "That is, if you want this to be an enjoyable experience."

Stefan grimaced, but gave in. He wrapped Elena in a tight hug and bent down to kiss her hair. Then he let go of her, took one of her hands and threaded his fingers through hers. They emerged hand in hand from the tree's shadows and continued to walk silently, enjoying the presence of each other.

Suddenly, a gang of skateboarders dressed in black came around the corner and rushed towards them. Stefan and Elena froze, and time seemed to slow down as they came. They noticed a striking girl with tan skin, glinting golden-brown eyes, and black hair with neon-green streaks in it that appeared to be leading the rest of them. He glanced down at her skateboard; he saw the words "HAWK GAL" written in black, diagonally twice and a picture of a black blob in the middle. Then, as he acted quickly and pulled Elena out of the way, he saw the leader sneer at them, and flip them the bird. Looking back, Stefan could only see 2 blond heads: 1 with pink streaks, 1 without, a reddish-brown head with black streaks, and a black head zigzagging down the street.

Shocked, Stefan and Elena stared after them for a couple of minutes before any of them could move. Finally, Elena snapped out of it, and wriggled in Stefan's tight grasp. It was becoming rather painful. "Stefan, it's okay. Let go of me." She said breathlessly.

But he showed no sign of hearing her. She wriggled more fiercely. "Stefan, let go of me. You're hurting me." She called to him as if he was lost in a fog. "Stefan? Please. Let _go._" As if from a dream, he released her.

Ignoring the sudden lance of pain that shot up to her arms, Elena asked, "What just happened?"

"Oh… um… I'm… just thinking." He said distractedly.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He focused on Elena. "Remember the person I almost crashed into? On the highway?" When Elena nodded, he continued. "I saw their licence plate, so I might find them and apologise. The plate was "Hawk Gal". The girl in the front… the leader… she was riding on a skateboard with the same words printed on it."

Elena furrowed her brow. "So you think they're the same person?"

"Exactly."

"Are you sure? I mean, seriously, it might've been a coincidence."

"I think so. Not a lot of people have the same licence plate as their skateboard design. Plus, she gave me the finger too." He added wryly.

Elena smirked. "So you wanted to track her down so you can give _them_ the finger too?"

He laughed quietly. "No, love. I wanted to say sorry. But after what just happened, I don't think that's necessary."

Elena smiled at him, and reached up on her toes to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

**Please, tell me what you think! Review!!! I need criticism!!! Thanks!**


	4. Attacked

**This is Chapter 4!! Tell me what u guys think! REVIEW!!**

Love is in the Air, Chapter 4: Attacked

_Friday, July 20, 11:47 a.m._

_Dear Diary,_

_Stefan took me to Las Vegas a few days ago. Everything here is so different from Fell's Church. I miss Bonnie and Meredith a lot, but I don't regret my choice. I can see Stefan asking me this every minute in his expression. _

_Anyway, I'm starting to get used to this place, except for the lights. It's been waking me up in the middle of the night these days. I usually drink some water and go back to bed when this happens… but tonight is different. Tonight, I can't get back to sleep. So I'm writing to you, diary. _

_It's pretty warm outside. I guess I can go take a walk. I have to get rid of the adrenaline anyway._

_~Elena_

Elena put down her pen, and sank back to her pillow. She felt bubbly and excited, though her eyelids were drooping. A walk was what she needed, she decided. Elena slid off the bed and yanked on some clothes quietly. Then she picked up her pen, and scribbled a note for Stefan quickly.

_Stefan – _

_I'm out for a walk. Don't worry, I'll be back soon. I love you._

_~ Elena._

Satisfied, she shuffled out the door and closed it with a soft click. Rubbing her eyes, she went towards the stairs.

And bumped into some strong figure.

Elena started, and blurted, "Sorry!" The figure turned around swiftly, and glared at her. _Huh?!_ Elena thought. The girl in front of her looked vaguely familiar. _Hmm,_ she thought. Yes, the neon-green and black hair, the tan skin, the black make up, the golden-brown hawk-like eyes, the black punk-rock-goth clothing and… _the skateboard._

"Oh. It's you." The girl grinned savagely. "What are you doing here?"

Elena stared. She glared at the girl suddenly, and stuck the finger at her. The girl threw her head back and laughed. Elena stared at her again, and noticed with mild awe that the girl's voice and laughter sounded sharp, like the crack of a glacier and as fierce as a hunting bird's cry. Elena rolled her eyes, and started for the stairs.

"Wait up!" The girl called to her. Elena sighed, and turned around.

"Yeah. That was me." She said grinning. "What's your name?" She asked abruptly.

"Elena Gil-Sal-Gilbert. You?" She replied, still dazed.

"I'm ShayLynn Creed." She stuck a black-finger nailed hand out. "How about that guy you were with?" She asked, as Elena shook the hand. She noticed with mild surprise that the girl called ShayLynn's grip was rather strong, as strong as Stefan's… or Damon's.

"Stefan. Stefan Salvatore. Do you live around here?"

ShayLynn nodded. "I live in the flat up there, with my cousin Jordana." She pointed upwards.

"Oh! That's great. I live in the flat below yours." Elena said, smiling slightly. "Let's go down." She nodded at the stairs.

"So whatchya doing down here at the middle of the night?" ShayLynn asked mischievously.

Elena sighed. "I couldn't sleep. The lights are too bright here."

ShayLynn nodded. "New here, right?" she looked around distractedly. "Do you skateboard?" She said suddenly.

"No. I didn't have time to learn." She said dryly. _I was too busy trying to defend Fell's Church from vampires,_ she mentally added.

"Oh. Too bad. You should learn someday." She glanced around abstractedly. All of a sudden, she dropped her skateboard, and stepped on it. "Anyhoo. I gotta go. Later." She said in a rush. Elena watched her ride away, and turned to walk on the sidewalk.

_ShayLynn's pretty nice actually. Once you talk to her for a while._ _And quirky. _She mused. She was rather proud about making a new friend already. _I might actually love it here._ _If only Stefan knows I'm telling the truth. _She sighed, as she rounded a dark corner.

"What might this fine lady be doing on the streets at this time?" A lean man emerged from the shadows.

Elena had a really bad feeling about this. All her nerves were tingling by the sight of him. She briskly walked forward, trying to pass him. But the man was fast. He stood in front of her, smiling pleasantly.

"Don't be afraid. I was just asking if you would like me to escort you back home." Elena's fists clenched inside her pockets. She had a very bad feeling that surrounded her, pulsing darkly and trapping her to stand motionless. All the fine hairs on her neck stood up. _Bad feeling. Bad feeling. Bad feeling. Bad feeling. Bad feeling. Bad feeling,_ she repeated in her head.

The man was moving closer to her. He reached out to tuck a loose strand of hair that was floating in the wind, but Elena finally snapped out of it. She tensed, turned around suddenly and sprinted the other way.

But the man once again ended up in front of her, blocking the way. _How did he get there so fast?_ She thought, in panic. The answer was in her head of course. But Elena refused to acknowledge it.

He smiled down at her, amused. "Are you trying to run away? I assure you, you will _not_ make it out." He said pleasantly.

Elena's breath was coming in short gasps. She was tired, and both of them knew it.

_I'm going to die._ She thought frantically. _I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to — Shut up!_ Something in her brain had slapped her awake, and she was thinking logically now._ You gotta try to make it out of here. You owe it to Stefan. And yourself. Now calm down._ Elena slowed her breathing to a normal pace, and looked up at the man in front of here. He was tall and lean, and had blond hair, with piercing blue eyes.

"What do you want?" She asked quietly, even though she knew what he wanted.

"You should know. You're a smart girl." He said, still smiling.

Elena backed away slowly. _No._ She shook her head furiously. _No way._ She kept on backing away… and felt a wall behind her. The man was just as slowly advancing on her, the smile always present on his face. _Oh crap._ She thought, and turned to the left, where there was still space.

Suddenly, a hand clamped on her mouth, and another yanked her back. Elena automatically thrashed and screamed for all it's worth.

_Stop it._

_What?!_ Elena shrieked mentally. It was a voice in her head. Not her own. It sounded like… the man with the piercing blue eyes. Panic enveloped her, and the answer she knew all along exploded out of the drawer she kept it in.

_He's a vampire._

_The one that's holding me is no doubt a vampire too._ She realized. _And that means… I'm going to be dead. Drained. They're too strong._ She couldn't fight them. There were two of them. One of her.

_That's right. If you're a good girl, we might even let you go._ He said in her mind.

He was probably still smiling right now. With a jolt, she realized that her eyes were closed. She opened them quickly, and saw… darkness. They were probably in an alley.

_This won't hurt a bit…_ He said in her mind once again.

_Oh yes it would!!_ She clenched her teeth, and struggled even more than before, only to find the grips on her tighten. She was getting tired. Her adrenaline rush was coming to an end, leaving her weak. She felt someone roughly push her head back, exposing her throat. With a shiver, she knew that he really was going to drink her blood. All of a sudden, she felt vampire teeth at her neck, piercing her skin. Then she felt the real pain of having blood drawn out against her will. She slowly felt weaker and weaker as the man continued to drink.

_Yes. Just relax._ He said, pleased, in her mind. She noticed he sounded stronger than before.

_Goodbye Stefan. I'm sorry I left you this early. I love you._ She dizzily thought.

All of sudden, she heard a shout, and a surge of hope blazed through her. But darkness soon enveloped her, and she fell into it unwillingly.

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_Bzzzzzzzzzzzz._ _Bzzzzzzzzzzzz._ _Bzzzzzzzzzzzz._ The doorbell woke Stefan up.

With a groan, he threw off the covers and crawled out of bed. He fell asleep only a couple of hours before, and now, he desperately wanted to ignore the doorbell. Stefan dragged himself to the door, and opened it wearily.

There was no one there.

_It's a stupid kids' trick_. He grumbled to himself.

Just as he was about to close the door, he looked down, and noticed Elena lying down on the floor. Shocked awake, he looked around and saw no one was there. He swiftly picked up Elena and kicked the door closed. While he was carrying her, her lifeless head flopped to the side and uncovered the twin bite marks of a vampire.

_What?! There are other vampires here?_ Stefan thought in panic.

Elena looked pale and slightly waxy. _No. She can't be._ He thought angrily. He checked for her pulse. In relief, he felt it, fluttering weakly.

"Elena! Elena, wake up!" He called to her out loud and mentally while shaking her gently.

_She's lost a lot of blood._ He realized.

He quickly laid her on their bed and reached for the wooden dagger he kept in his bedside cupboard. Gritting his teeth, he slit his throat, and knelt down next to Elena for her to drink his blood. Unconsciously, she drank it and gradually, her face grew slightly pink with life. Stefan sighed in relief, and kissed Elena on her forehead. He stroked her hair lightly, before collapsing to the floor.

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Elena struggled awake. Her eyelids felt like they weighed a million pounds, and she felt absolutely exhausted. Finally, she opened her eyes and gazed above her. She saw red. Confused, she looked to her left and right. Blurrily, she still saw red. Her body felt warm, as if she was burning. All of a sudden, the memories of what had happened before surrounded her, and she cried silently, tears streaming down her cheeks.

_I died. Oh godohgodohgod. I left Stefan. _She thought miserably. _Poor Stefan. I hope he doesn't kill himself._

She gritted her teeth, and sat up slowly. Her eyes lolled, before they focused around her. She looked towards her right, and saw… furniture? She sharply turned her head to the left, and saw… a door with a portrait of Stefan hugging her. _What?_ This was their room. Elena blinked rapidly, and the remains of red drifted away. She slid off the bed, and nearly smacked right into the wall. _Whoa… head rush._ She thought giddily, as she teetered. She sloppily touched everything she can, while singing in her head, _I'm not dead. I'm not dead! I'm not dead!!_ She felt like doing a happy dance, right then and there. However, when she reached the other side of the bed, she caught sight of Stefan, lying unconscious on the floor. Stunned, she slumped forward on him, and shook him frantically.

"Stefan, are you okay? Stefan? Stefan??!! Wake up! Please, wake up!! Stefan!!" She yelled at him.

Stefan groaned, and opened his eyes. Elena shrieked with joy, and hugged him as tight as she could, tears swimming in her eyes. _I'm really out of it._ She thought laughingly. _Why am I crying?_

She felt Stefan's weak hands hold her, and realized that he was in need of blood. So she uncovered her neck, and said with blue eyes blazing, "Stefan. You got to take some. Don't make me force you."

She felt him for once, not argue, and pierce her skin with his teeth. Then the pleasure of giving him her blood came. She felt connected to him, felt like he was her other half. She felt…_complete._ When he pulled away, she protested meekly, and tried to drag him back. But Stefan firmly gripped her shoulders and pulled back. "I can't take too much, or you'll get weak." He said, steadily holding her gaze. Elena saw he already looked much better, his face was no longer as waxy, and the dark circles under his eyes lightened up a bit. Most of all, his grip was strong, secure. She smiled when he pulled her to a hug, and whispered in her ear, "I'm glad you're alive." There was a part that wanted to stay there, but there were more important things to deal with right now. Like how she got here. So she pulled away unhappily, and asked, "How did I get here?"

Stefan immediately looked more serious, and his gaze darkened. "What _I_ want to know is how you got attacked by a vampire."

Elena grimaced, and said, "I was taking a midnight walk, because I couldn't sleep..." She continued on with the story, warily looking at Stefan. His muscles grew taut when she reached the part of the attack. However, she noticed a small smile when she talked about ShayLynn. "And then I heard a shout. But then I went unconscious, so I don't know what happened after that." She concluded. When she looked up at him once again, he looked torn. His whole body was quivering with fury, and his mouth was stretched in a tight line. But his eyes, his eyes looked ashamed, but fierce.

"Stefan? Stefan? Are you okay? Please don't. You're kind of scaring me." Elena said. Stefan didn't respond.

"Stefan? Please. Calm down." She stood up and wrapped him in a tight hug. When her arms touched him, he seemed to relax a bit, so she continued to hug him and planting soft kisses at his neck. Finally, Stefan sank back in the chair he was sitting on, and let out a breath he had been holding. He forced a smile at Elena, and said, "I'm okay. I just… want to attack them. The monsters." His gaze grew harsh, and he clenched his hands. Elena rubbed his arms soothingly. "Tell me. Tell me how you found me." She said, hoping to distract him.

Anger momentarily forgotten, Stefan told his story. "Then I gave you my blood, and after that, I probably collapsed. The next thing I knew, you were shaking me, and giving me _your_ blood."

Elena let go of his hands, propped her chin up with her hand. "So basically, I got attacked by vampires, and then someone saved me and returned me here, so you can help me."

"But the question is who is that someone? That person must know where you live, and know that the attacker was a vampire." Stefan interjected.

"Well… I told ShayLynn that we lived here." Elena said doubtfully.

Stefan shook his head. "I don't think so. She looks too fragile to know about vampires, let alone kill _two_."

"That's what I thought. But who could it be? We've only been here a few days, and not a lot of people know. We hardly even have friends here." Elena said.

"Actually, the people that owned this place before us know. And I met… others too." Stefan said, frowning.

"We'll check tomorrow, I guess. I don't know about you, but--" Elena yawned. "But I'm really tired."

"Okay. Tomorrow it is." Stefan whispered, as he carried Elena to their bed. He kissed Elena softly on the lips, before laying down himself. Staring at the ceiling, he thought about the possibilities of the saviour. But sleep couldn't evade him, and he found himself drifting off shortly.

**Hmm. So SOMEONE saved Elena… but whom?? Tell me who you think it is buy REVIEWING!!!**


	5. Searching

**I'm trying to write as much as I can, cause summer's almost over! I hope I can continue as fast as I do in the summer! **

**Disclaimer:**

**I.**

**Don't.**

**Own.**

**Anything.**

**Sadly.**

**Except my own characters, of course! :)**

Love is in the Air, Chapter 5: Searching

Sometimes, people wake to the sound of someone banging loudly on a door, or just plainly loud and annoying noises. Sometimes, they wake up, sweating from a nightmare. Sometimes, people wake up to the sound of utter silence, the heavy silence they sense in the air. And sometimes, people wake to the unconscious feeling of being watched. Elena woke to this feeling. The fine hairs on the back her neck stood up, and her ears expanded their senses to full potential, searching for any hint of danger. Her heart squeezed in her chest, and she snapped her eyes open. She found herself looking into soft oak-green eyes. As her mind registered this, a siren began to erupt from the bottom of her throat. But before it could be released, a strong, cool hand clamped across her mouth, muffling the scream. She sighed in relief at the hand, and rolled her eyes as she stretched and sat up. She looked at Stefan. He was grinning. Of course. Stefan shifted to sit beside her and pulled her close to him. She leaned into him willingly, and smiled tiredly. Stefan tilted her chin up, but afraid that she has morning breath, Elena playfully slapped the hand away, and ran in the bathroom to hide. Stefan was banging on the door loudly, but she ignored him. She rushed to take the shortest shower in her life – but savouring the feeling of warm water against her sore body – and frantically brushed her teeth. When she emerged from the bathroom, her hair was done, and she was fully clothed. She strolled to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. Sipping it daintily, Elena felt a pair of arms snake around her waist.

"Hey there." Stefan murmured.

"Not even a proper good morning!" Elena said scornfully as Stefan nipped her earlobe playfully.

"Mmm. I thought this would be a better one. I think so."

Elena set her cup down on the counter, and turned around slowly. She stared at Stefan with her arms crossed. "Are you drunk?" She asked flatly.

"No… I don't even know if vampires can get drunk." Stefan said uncertainly.

Elena poked him teasingly at his shoulder. "Are you sure? Or maybe my blood's too much."

"Nah. It's perfect." Stefan smiled.

"So are you ready for another day of hunting?" Elena said sarcastically. For the past few days, they had been searching for the person who saved her. They had tried all the rich and glittery parts of the city, with no luck. Elena secretly admired and disliked those days. She thought the lights were blinding, but beautiful. She found the buildings towering over her protectively, but feared what was inside. Anyhow, it was a relief to get those done. All they had to do is explore the grubbier and calmer places. She couldn't wait.

"Do we have to find that person? They might've left already. I mean, can't we just enjoy ourselves? I want to sort of put the supernatural behind us." She stated, for the millionth time. She was really thankful for the person, but the city was so big, and there were many tourists that come and go every day.

"Even me?" Stefan teased.

Elena had to smile. "No. Not you of course. But I know you get what I mean. It's been very adventurous those days, but I want to spend more time having fun with you."

Stefan searched her face. "Elena. I know you want to spend time having fun. I do too. But I really want to find that person. The person saved your life. Plus, they know about vampires. We might even have another friend, aside from ShayLynn."

"Fine then. We'll go. But how much longer do we have to search? The city's so big. People come and go every day. It's almost impossible to find them." Elena pointed out.

Stefan didn't say anything. He knew Elena was right, but he didn't want to give up hope. "Come. Let's get searching." He said instead.

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It was grubby. The sidewalk was littered with beer bottles and cigarettes, and smeared with gum of every colour. The buildings were gray and mouldy; some even tumbled down from old age. The windows were shattered and some were lucky enough to only be dusty. The lamp posts were layered with ripped ads, and the lights were flickering on and off. There was no one in sight. There were no cars, or bikes, or any transportation methods. This place plainly looked abandoned.

The Porsche, Stefan, and Elena stood out like an elephant in a dessert. Stefan parked, and both of them stared outside with their mouths wide open. He struggled to close his mouth. He knew that if anyone who lived here saw them, it would be rude. But still… he expected this to at least resemble the spontaneous Las Vegas more than this. This was… a _ruin._ Stefan finally got his mouth closed, and swallowed. "Well this is nice." He managed. When he looked across at Elena, he discovered she was opening and closing her mouth lots of times. "It's… different." She said, choking back laughter. They looked at each other, and burst into laughter.

When they finally sobered to a smile, they got out of the car, and walked hand in hand.

"So… where to start?" Elena asked. This place looked like where a drunk would live. Like the man that harassed her that night. She shuddered at the thought of his creepy face under the light. Stefan squeezed her fingers gently, and she returned the pressure. They came to a short, squat house. As they climbed the stairs, Elena suddenly crashed through a step. "Elena!" Stefan exclaimed, pushing down the laughter that was bubbling. He pulled her up and examined her face for injuries. "I'm fine. The stair just collapsed. That's all." She explained shakily. Stefan smirked, and Elena glared at him.

"Come on. Let's go." She said stiffly.

They continued up the stairs warily, and ended up at the doorstep. There was a welcome mat hugging the floor, and it was so dirty that the word "welcome" was hardly readable. Bits of the original beige poked out from the mushy black-green. When Stefan knocked on the door, bits of dust showered down, and the door creaked open.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" He called. He stepped inside, and nearly slipped on a rotten banana peel that was camouflaged with the old carpet. He stepped out in shock and ran down the stairs, to the safer sidewalk. Elena gingerly followed him down, and sighed. "This is going to be a long day. Let's get going." She said.

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Elena and Stefan and collapsed into the car. They had almost completed the whole neighbourhood – they're just missing one street. Thinking back, Elena realized that as they walked along the roads, each house got more and more grimy and more and more damaged. Only a quarter of the houses had residents in it, and they were all drunk. One man even attempted to throw up on Stefan. Luckily, they ran away before he even had time to turn green. They had both agreed to stop by the car for a break, and relax.

"Well that was fun." Elena said softly. Her hand moved around blindly to look for Stefan's. "Have you noticed that not a lot of people live here? And there were only drunks? Do you think that the person who saved me could possibly live here?" Her fingers touched a water bottle. The thought of cool water sounded good. She opened it and drunk deeply.

"I don't know, Elena. But we can try." Elena put down the water bottle, and looked for his hand again.

"Of course. We stick together. Even if one of us doesn't feel like doing this." Elena muttered teasingly. At last, she found Stefan's hand, and twined her fingers between his. He squeezed hers, understanding completely. Elena felt content. She figured out before moving to Las Vegas, that they didn't need to speak to know what the other was thinking. He knew her completely. She knew him. They were connected, always were and always will. Stefan reached over, and pulled her to him. His lips touched hers, and they melted into each other. She felt like water, flowing into Stefan, mixing with his soul. They were two parts of one whole. They were meant for each other. Elena pressed on, and deepened the kiss, until they were both gasping for breath. After that, she simply lay on his chest, and sighed happily as he stroked her hair gently, getting lost in his arms.

A few minutes later, Elena stirred. "Come on. I want to be at home soon!" She said softly. "Let's go." They unhappily released each other and climbed out of the car.

"We only have this street left. We can do it. Let's go." Stefan encouraged.

Elena smiled up at him, and walked with newfound energy. They soon came to the front of an apartment. This one looked rather clean and modern, compared to the others. Curious, they quietly tread inside.

"Hello? Is anyone th—" Elena stopped shouting when she saw fresh footprints on the carpet that was leading upstairs. She silently pointed at it, and carefully followed them. When they stopped, she looked up to see a solemn wooden door that had a heavy sign saying, "Do not Disturb". Elena and Stefan exchanged a glance. The door looked very suspicious. At first glance, it looked as worn and dirty as the rest of the building. However, if she took a closer look, she could see that the style was very modern indeed, and the dust was thicker there – purposefully sprinkled. She could hear murmurings behind the door in between her gasping breaths. She glanced at Stefan impishly, and silently went up to the door, to eavesdrop. She turned around, and saw Stefan conflicting between manners, and curiosity. Exasperated, Elena jerked her head towards the door. Stefan gave in with good grace, and delicately pressed his ear to the door. She nodded with approval, and did the same. The thick door muffled some of the sound, but when she desperately tried to listen, she gradually heard words clearly.

The voice was of a young male around Elena's age, but his words clashed with the voice. The words were too serious. "… attack near San Francisco. We have to send help there immediately. I hear there's also a…" The voice lowered to a murmur that Elena couldn't hear. But it must've been astonishing, because there was a collection of gasps. Then there was a bang in the room. The sound of a hand hitting a table. The young man's voice lowered and said, "So you see, we have to send help. They've started to awaken. Someone is helping them. The war is starting."

"James, there are Daybreaker agents over there as well. They're our second best team—"

"Aside from us," A third voice interjected smugly.

"Right, so they should be able to handle everything." The second voice added. This guy sounded young, and his voice sounded as cool as glaciers.

"Quinn. I don't think you get the point. This is no ordinary battle." The first voice argued. "They have a— "

"I know. But our teams should be prepared. Keller and Galen's team are there. They should be able to handle this." The cool voice belonging to a guy called Quinn interrupted. "Unless you don't believe in them." He added menacingly.

Someone sighed. "Quinn, I still think we should send recruits. It's not that I don't believe in them, I really do," Another voice said. This one belonged to a female. "What if Keller and Galen get severely injured, and there's no one to help them? Not even the rest of the team? Then we would lose." The voice hardened. This one sounded just as young and cool, but not as silky as the ones before.

"Rashel…" The guy called Quinn's voice softened. "I don't like losing either. But—"

"Are you arguing with me? Because I don't think you'll win." The girl called Rashel challenged. Elena raised her eyebrows in confusion. One minute they were talking about a war, the next was… about arguing. Laughter startled Elena out of her thoughts, and she blinked. The laughs sounded very melodic, and there seemed to be more than 4 people in the room. As if confirming Elena's suspicions, another voice spoke up.

"I agree with Rashel. I seriously doubt you're going to win, Quinn. Hey! That rhymes. Win, Quinn. Win, Quinn. Win, Quinn. Win, Quinn. Win—"

"Shut up, Ash!" Quinn snapped. His voice sounded like the crack of a glacier.

"Shh. So are we going to send recruits or not, Daybreakers?" Another voice said. This one was also a young male's, except it held authority.

"Thierry, I think we should take a vote." Rashel said.

"Agreed. Raise your hands if—"

Elena was so intent on listening that she didn't hear footsteps behind her. A cold hand clamped across her mouth and she attempted to scream.

**Muahahhahaa!! Cliffhanger! I've got more, but I have to get reviews to put it up!**


	6. Daybreakers

**Thanks for the reviews! It makes me very happy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters. Except my own.**

Love in the Air, Chapter 6: Daybreakers

Elena was so intent on listening that she didn't hear footsteps behind her. A cold hand clamped across her mouth, and she attempted to scream. But before any sound could come out, a voice in her ear hissed, "Shut up! Or they'll hear us!" Elena struggled again, but the person's grip was firm, so she couldn't move. She had no choice but to obey. She relaxed a little and looked over to Stefan. He was in the same situation as her. She widened her eyes. Stefan shouldn't have been surprised. He was a _predator._ But she shouldn't have been either, she reminded herself sternly. Focusing on the task at hand, she tried to catch a glimpse of the person that was currently dragging her down the stairs. But she was forced to a standing position, and a piece of black cloth was tied over her eyes and mouth.

"Don't move, or you'll get hurt. I'm getting the guy down now. Seriously, don't move." The voice whispered in her ear again. The kidnapper seemed nice, and she recognized something about this person. Something about the words… but it was gone. She listened intently, and heard the soft thumps of footsteps. They came right behind her and she felt someone undoing the piece of cloth. When it fell down, sunlight streamed in her eyes, blinding her for a few seconds. She blinked furiously to remove the black dots that were dancing in from of her, and turned to look for Stefan. She found him closely behind her, holding the black cloth, and was smiling at her. Elena smiled back, and raised her arms to hug him, but a voice behind Stefan hissed, "Gogogo! We have time for this later!" When Elena and Stefan merely raised their eyebrows, the person behind shoved Stefan lightly. "Go!" The voice hissed again.

Elena rolled her eyes, while tentatively stepped down the stairs, and turned wordlessly to look for Stefan. She found him, and sighed in relief. Stefan came up to her, and caught her in a hug, while lightly stroking her hair.

"Are you alright? What happened? Why weren't you prepared? Who forced us down here?" Elena said in his shoulder, muffling the words.

"I'm fine. Someone forced us down here, but I don't know why." Stefan answered. He ignored one of the questions.

"What about the second last question? Why weren't you prepared?" Elena asked quietly. She knew he didn't answer it on purpose, and she had to force the answer out of him. However, Stefan didn't answer. Elena looked up and searched his face. He wasn't waxy pale or anything, but there were darker circles under his eyes. Thoroughly exasperated, she said, between clenched teeth, "Stefan. You don't need to be ashamed about it. You. Need. To. Feed."

Stefan groaned. "Elena, I have. I'm just tired. I'll feed once we get home. And where's the person that forced us down here?" He threw out as a distraction.

Elena glared at him, but looked around. "I don't know. But I remember that something about the person… something was familiar. Ugh. But who was it?"

"That would be me." A dark shape skateboarded towards them, and stopped.

Elena gasped. "ShayLynn? You were the one that almost _dragged_ me down here? The one that forced _Stefan_ to come down?" That was impossible, Elena thought wildly. ShayLynn couldn't have the strength to do that! But then she had a really strong grip before, Elena reminded herself.

"Hey. Yeah, I was the one. I was skateboarding while you guys were making a scene," ShayLynn said sarcastically. "So? What's your problem?" She added, smirking. She was once again clad in black punk-rock-goth clothes and black makeup. The only difference was that her black and neon-green hair was done up in a high ponytail.

"Nothing." Elena replied coolly. ShayLynn always made her feel the need to be _cooler, _which was ridiculous, considering she was the Queen of her old school, Robert E. Lee High. She felt an odd pang in her chest as she thought that. Oh, she missed Bonnie, Meredith and Matt, so, so much.

"Do I know you?" ShayLynn asked bluntly, gesturing towards Stefan.

Before Elena could open her mouth, Stefan replied, "My name is Stefan Salvatore. You can call me Stefan." He put out a hand.

ShayLynn glanced at Elena. "So this is the infamous Stefan Salvatore. I'm ShayLynn Creed. Call me ShayLynn." She stuck out her own black finger-nailed hand, and shook Stefan's. Elena looked at Stefan to see his expression. To an outsider, no one would've seen a change in his expression, but for Elena, it was fairly easy. When ShayLynn's hand wrapped around Stefan's, one of his eyebrows twitched in surprise. Even Stefan thinks ShayLynn's grip is stronger than usual, Elena thought, satisfied.

Elena cleared her throat, and said casually, "So ShayLynn… What brings you here?"

ShayLynn looked a little uncomfortable. "Umm… I'm here skateboarding. Why shouldn't I be here?"

"Oh, it's just that… isn't it a bit messy to skateboard here?"

"That's where the fun comes in. Obstacles, tricks, you know." ShayLynn said mischievously. "What are you guys doing here?"

Stefan glanced at Elena and said smoothly, "We're here to explore the less… rich parts of Las Vegas. We want to see the rest of the city."

"And before, I meant why were you in the building? There wasn't anything special there." Elena lied.

"Me and my gang hung out here before. I lost something, so I went looking for it. Then I heard some mumbling so I went up." ShayLynn answered, still uncomfortable.

"But why did you make us go out?"

"What's with the questions?" ShayLynn snapped. "Anyhoo, I've always wanted to do that. And you guys were eavesdropping." ShayLynn shook her finger at them mockingly. "Bad, bad habit."

Elena and Stefan cracked a smile and dropped the subject.

"You guys wanna hang at my flat? You can stay for dinner if you want." ShayLynn added, looking at them.

Stefan glanced around. Elena could tell he still wanted to search for the saviour. He looked at Elena, and she stared back at him. Her gaze read, _let's go. We can come another_ _day. _Stefan looked back at ShayLynn, and said, "Sure. We'll come. Do you want to ride with us, or skateboard back?"

ShayLynn waved a hand. "Nah, I'll skateboard. More fun." She added, as she rolled away at top speed. They stared after her, and then headed for the car. Stefan guided her, with a hand over her shoulders, and Elena leaned into him.

"So now you've met her. What do you think?" Elena asked.

"She's different. She sort of reminds me of Bonnie, except less vulnerable. And you were right – her grip really is strong. But I've met lots of people with grips like that. It's not really strange." Stefan smiled.

"I guess. That means she looks small, but is really tough. I think we'll be great friends." She grinned. "Anyway, once we get back, you need to feed right away. I'm not letting you leave if you don't. And if you try to escape," Elena narrowed her eyes. "I'll cut myself. Got it?"

Stefan nodded slowly. "Okay. Do you remember the stuff we heard when we eavesdropped?" His face twisted slightly when he said the word _eavesdropped_.

"Yeah. I was going to talk to you about it. Do you think it's a real war, or just a bunch of boys and one girl playing a game? I'm leaning towards the game part, even though they all sound too old for games. The war idea is too… unrealistic. There's no way a war is going to happen. Besides, there's no reason for San Francisco to be bombed, and all of a sudden, they were joking." Elena said as she opened the car door and climbed inside.

Stefan furrowed his brow. "I agree. But when they talked, it sounded too… serious to be fake, even though at the end they were teasing each other. By the way, did you hear the whispered word? I couldn't hear it." When Elena shook her head, he continued while starting the car. "And they call themselves _Daybreakers._ We should look it up, I guess. Just in case. Do you remember the names of the people? They might come in handy too."

"Sure. Um… there was Quinn, of course. Then Rashel – have you ever heard of anyone called that? – Ash, James, and Thierry. You got it down?" Elena eyed the notepad Stefan was scribbling on.

"So it's Quinn, Rashel, Ash, James and Thierry. Then there's the organization called Daybreakers." Stefan frowned. "Now that I hear it, this sounds a little… childish. I'm not sure this is real, anymore. It's too… unrealistic. Should we still look it up?"

"I don't know. Just keep it anyway." Elena said. Stefan stuffed the notepad back in his pocket, never taking his eyes off the road.

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When they arrived at their flat, Stefan was pushed by Elena to go out and feed. "Go, and when you come back, I expect you to be fully nourished." She shouted after him. Elena sighed, and opened the door to their flat. She took out the piece of paper Stefan had been scribbling on with his neat writing. She turned on the computer, and went to the kitchen to pour some orange juice as she waited. Heading back, she glanced down at herself. She had on a plain white T-shirt, and a pair of old jeans. Elena put down the glass of orange juice on a nearby table, and turned for their bedroom. Inside, she went through her closet for a more… sophisticated look. Elena had always tried to look her best back at Fell's Church, but had dropped the looks because there was no one to see her that often. Aside from Stefan, of course. But he loved her no matter what she wore, so she always threw on anything she could wear.

Now she was holding a pair of skinny baby blue jeans, ripped at the knees, a black wide-neck shirt, a dark purple tank top and a plain black beret. It wasn't really sophisticated, but she was very comfortable with it, and it looked okay. She quickly changed into it, and stopped by her accessories. She pulled out silver hoop earrings, put those on, and tied her hair in a low ponytail. Satisfied, she picked up her orange juice, sipped it, and headed for the computer.

She logged in and quickly double clicked the internet explorer button. Tapping her finger nails on the table, she wondered if this was necessary. Were they really so bored, that they cared about this? She typed in , and one again waited. Then she typed in "Daybreakers". Most of the results on the page talked about a movie that was coming out in 2010. Elena rolled her eyes, and clicked on the first one. The movie was about… the whole world being infected by a disease, turning them into vampires. Elena snorted at the irony, and went back to the results page. The people in the room were probably talking about this movie, and acting it out. Which was ridiculous, at this age. But she promised Stefan with more answers than one and there was nothing else to do, so she continued to search. Finally she came across a webpage that said, _Daybreakers Online Chatroom._ Curious, she clicked it, and a pop up popped up on her screen. (**A/N. LOL – pop up popped up.) **She was welcomed into the chatroom, and had to enter a username. She played along with it, and entered, "Vamp_luver". It showed 3 different chats going on. She clicked the first, and slightly cursed when the website announced her joining them. She scrolled to the top and began reading, ignoring the people asking who she was. There was someone called "The_Cat", "Secret-Vamp", "Better-than-Quinn", "Go-die-Ash", "The_Lord", "Panther_gurl", and "The-Prince". Elena read the whole conversation, and slumped back in her chair with shock. This chatroom was talking about the things she and Stefan had overheard in the apartment. She couldn't believe her luck. She shakily typed up, "There's a war coming?" and hit Enter.

She waited, and then all of a sudden seven messages popped up.

The_Cat: Who are you?

Better-than-Quinn: Obviously.

The_Lord: Yes.

Secret-Vamp: Haven't you been reading?

Go-die-Ash: Who are you and what do you want?

Panther_gurl: What's your name? Where are you?

The-Prince: Hi.

Elena keyed in "Are you guys Rashel, Quinn, Ash, Thierry and James?", earning 5 "yeahs" and "yeses" and one "What do you want?". But two of them – Panter_gurl and The-Prince didn't answer. She closed her eyes, and concentrated on the memory. She vaguely remembered them mentioning someone called Keller and Galen. It was worth a try. She typed "And Keller and Galen?". 2 yeses. She smiled, and stared at the screen. She still couldn't believe her luck. But all the same, she still thought this was a kid's game. Obviously, there would be no war, and this chatroom was all about the coming movie.

A bang startled her out of her thoughts. She leaped out of her chair, and peered into the hallway. Stefan was walking back. Elena relaxed, and went out to welcome him.

"Guess what? I found the Daybreakers!" Elena told him with eyes shining like diamonds.

He smiled at her. "Great. What did you find out?"

"Well, I still think it's a game," She twisted her mouth into a grimace. "But anyway, Daybreakers is apparently a movie coming out in 2010. It's about the world getting hit by a disease, turning everyone into a vampire." When Stefan smirked, Elena nodded. "I know. Ironic. Then I found a Daybreakers chatroom. I entered as Vamp_luver." She added slyly. "But before you see that, you're changing." She said firmly, and led him to their bedroom. She went through his closet, as Stefan asked, "Why do we need to change? It's just dinner with a new friend. But I guess you already have." He said, as he looked at her clothes. "You look more grown up than before, when I met you." He added.

Elena ignored the comment, because she didn't know if it were a complement or not. She turned around sharply, and she held up a loose black T-shirt, and a pair of dark blue ripped jeans. "Change." She instructed, as she stalked out of the room. She went up to the computer to make sure everyone was still there. They were. She scrolled up, and saw they all had said many "Who are you's" before returning to the conversation. Except they seemed wary of her, so their comments and strategies seemed more… _vague._

She felt hands press down on her shoulders, and voice above her saying, "Well this is interesting."

"Mmhmm." She scrolled down to the small conversation she had with them. "See? They're all the people we've heard about in the room. Even Keller and Galen."

"I see, vamp lover." He teased and Elena playfully swatted him. "Let's talk about this later. We have a dinner to get to." He said.

Elena quickly bookmarked it for future reference and turned off the computer. She stood up and turned around to evaluate Stefan's clothes. With his slightly tousled hair, long T-shirt, ripped jeans, and sneakers, Elena smiled mildly in satisfaction. When she glanced back at him as she shoved her feet in sneakers, she saw him run his eyes over her clothes appreciatively. She winked at him, and opened the door. She waited for him to lock it, and together, they went hand in hand to ShayLynn's flat.

**Woohoo! You asked for more Nightworld! (P.S. I really did search Google. It really is a movie. LOL.) REVIEW!**


	7. Racing

**Tada! Without further ado… except for the disclaimer. **

Love is in the Air, Chapter 7: Racing

Stefan pressed on the doorbell – which made a playful siren call, and waited for the door to open. Just when they decided to ring the bell again, the door swung open, revealing a dark corridor with gothic lamps decorating it every 3 meters or so.

Elena and Stefan gasped in awe, and they cautiously stepped in and removed their shoes. The door suddenly swung shut, and the lights flicked on, creating an eerie glow. Elena looked up at Stefan, who looked confused. She instantly relaxed with him at her side, and played along. She felt Stefan nudge her, and both of them made their way to the other side of the corridor. She couldn't help but admire the lamps as she passed. They were delicately carved dragon-like creatures painted charcoal gray, with one wing covering a light bulb. But when they almost reached to the end, the lamps turned off. Elena shrugged, and trusted Stefan to guide her. When they hovered uncomfortably at the door, something beside them in the shadow moved. A single candlelight flickered to life, and filled the darkness with little light. A person clad in a black cloak with the hood pulled up moved forward, holding the flickering candle. Elena and Stefan turned right, so they were facing him/her. The person stopped in front of them, and nothing moved, except the candle's flame. Elena tried not to smirk. This whole thing was ludicrous; except she knew deep down that it was actually pretty cool.

The person spoke. "Who desires to enter at such a time?" This voice wasn't familiar, meaning it wasn't ShayLynn's so she assumed it was ShayLynn's cousin, Jordana's.

Elena opened her mouth, but Stefan nudged her slightly, telling her to let him handle this and replied, "Elena Gilbert and Stefan Salvatore."

When he said this, Elena used every ounce of self control to stop herself from bursting into laughter.

"You may come in." The figure said, and pushed open the door.

The dining room was dimly lit, once again by the cool gothic lamps. There was a rectangular table set already, with a black table cloth. There were square white plates, and napkins folded elegantly. Beside the plates was silverware glinting in the light and empty wine glasses. In one corner there was a bottle of wine, unopened. In the middle was a jar of red roses, and red rose petals were artfully scattered among the table.

Elena could only gape with her mouth open. She snapped it shut quickly, and opened it once again to ask where ShayLynn was. But a figure stepped out of a dark corner. It was a girl that looked maybe twenty years old. Elena assumed it was Jordana. She looked unfamiliar, but had the same tan face and golden-brown eyes. However they looked soft compared to ShayLynn's hard ones. Instead of straight black hair, this girl had wavy dark brown hair. She had on little makeup, instead of blunt black and was wearing a casual black dress that ShayLynn would never wear.

"Hello, I'm ShayLynn's cousin, Jordana." The girl said. "And welcome to our home." She stuck out a hand. Elena and Stefan both shook it, and the girl continued. "Don't worry about wearing formal, because well, it doesn't matter. ShayLynn and I set this up for fun, but we're still eating here. And of course without the extra knives and stuff. It's really confusing for me." She rolled her eyes.

Elena smiled. She was starting to like this girl. "Hi, I'm Elena Gilbert and he's Stefan Salvatore, but you probably know." She added slyly. "The effects and stuff were really cool." She said sincerely.

Jordana gave a little laugh. Elena noticed her voice and laughter didn't sound like ShayLynn's fierce ones. Instead, they were quite… usual. "Oh really? Thanks. ShayLynn sort of blackmailed me into doing it. Don't ask." She said. "Speaking of ShayLynn… I'll better check on her. She's probably breaking things somewhere. Gimme a sec." She disappeared.

Elena and Stefan looked at each other. "Jordana seems nice. And I love everything here. It's really… mystical, I guess you can say."

"Hmm. Yeah. But the what happened in the corridor sort of made me want to laugh." Stefan whispered, grinning.

"I know. But it was still cool." She replied.

"Hey guys. Wussup." A voice said. ShayLynn. She emerged from the left. Elena watched her stroll over to fridge and pull out a Nestea. "You guys want anything?"

"A coke."

"And a coke."

"Kay." ShayLynn gave them their drinks, and headed into an unlit area of the room. "Come. You don't want to be standing here all day do you?" She called over shoulder.

Elena and Stefan looked at each other once again, and followed. Elena stepped into the shadows, and let Stefan lead, considering he can see better than her. She cautiously turned left along with Stefan. Then she shuffled another left, except this one was unexpected. She stubbed her toe on something, and cursed mentally. Why aren't the lights on, anyway? She fumed. All of a sudden, Stefan stopped in front of her, and she bumped right into him. She heard someone click on something-Maybe a light switch? Elena hoped-and light flooded into the room, leaving her blinking away dark spots in her vision. When they faded slightly, Elena took in the living room. She found the whole room transformed. Before, it was dark, and uninviting. But when the light flicked on, it was pulsing seductively, and comfy. The whole room revolved around shades of purple. The walls were painted a soft pale rose; the couches positioned in an "L" were a royal purple and black. The lamps shaped like glaciers glowed like lavender ice. There were three black tables in all, the biggest in the middle, and the smaller beside the couches. The biggest table had a black vase containing a few fake lavender-streaked-with-white orchids. The smaller tables held purple crystal plates with chocolates and candy; one each. The drapes that hung gracefully beside the room-length windows were light lavender. In the front of the room, there was a black flat-screen TV, very much like the one she and Stefan had at home. There was video game machines, controllers and DVDs scattered in front of it.

Elena and Stefan sat simultaneously on one of the silky couches, while ShayLynn flopped onto the other. She picked up a remote control, turned on the TV and began flipping through channels.

"What do you think about the place?" ShayLynn asked, grinning. "Jordana designed this room. As you could see before, I designed the dining room. We split the rooms up. I got the dining room, my room, half the corridor, the bathroom we share and half the patio. She got her own room, the living room, the kitchen, half the corridor and half the patio. And I can buy whatever I want for the room, as long as it's under the budget. It's so split up right?" She laughed. "And what do you think about the introduction?" She added, grinning.

"I think the introduction was cool," Elena said. "And I think this place is wonderful, not that I saw much of it anyway," She added wryly. "So far, I think this place is really… mystical." She blushed under ShayLynn's temporary sharp gaze. ShayLynn smiled, nodded, and turned back to the TV. Elena continued. "And it's nice how you and your cousin design the rooms. Are thinking about being an interior designer? Cause, this room looks great. By the way, are you guys close? Like do you guys argue a lot?"

ShayLynn smirked. "What's with the questions? But yea, we're good. Just the occasional shit about being out at night and stuff." She rolled her eyes. "She's cool mostly. But sometimes, she acts like a mom." Her tone didn't sound annoyed at all. "And come on. Even I thought the intro was ridiculous. And I was the one who forced Jordana to help me with it. But I take credit in designing the table." She winked. "And no, I could never be an interior designer. I'd get fired in a day."

Elena stared. She could totally feel the bad-girl vibe rolling off ShayLynn in waves. But she knew that ShayLynn was actually a good person underneath. She was about to ask if she swears all the time, but ShayLynn was still talking.

"Elena, does your very hot boyfriend not talk at all?" She asked bluntly, and rather rudely.

Elena raised one eyebrow menacingly, and was about to make a snappy comeback, but was interrupted by Stefan's laughter. She whipped around incredulously, and stared at him. Does he even feel insulted by ShayLynn's words? Even though she called him hot?

"Yes, Elena's hot boyfriend does talk. He's just watching TV and listening to you girls talking." Stefan said, amused. ShayLynn smirked, and reached over Elena to give props to him. Stefan raised his own fist in accord, and gently touched hers. ShayLynn settled back, and continued to drink iced tea. "What's on the menu today, anyway?" Stefan asked.

At this moment, Jordana appeared in the doorway, in her casual black dress. She crossed her arms, and smiled friendly. "We're having steak for the main course." She glanced at ShayLynn quickly, before returning her gaze at Elena and Stefan. "I'm gonna cook it now. How would you guys like it done?"

"Rare." ShayLynn yawned. "Medium rare, please." Elena said with a tentative smile. "I'll have rare please. Do you need any help?" Stefan asked politely.

Jordana waved a hand. "Nah, I'm fine. You guys talk. I'll do the cooking." Then she disappeared into the shadows.

"There's gonna be more than the main course, of course. But we wanna keep that a surprise for you." ShayLynn sneered. "Outta the secret guys. Sorry."

"It's okay. So… how old are you?" Elena asked curiously. "You look… about sixteen?"

"Nope. Seventeen. Got my driver's license." ShayLynn grinned. "I once again, share my car with Jordana. Wanna see?"

"Oh right. I've seen your car before." Stefan said wryly, looking at Elena. She grinned, sharing the memory. They were driving to Vegas, and Stefan had momentarily taken his eyes off the road. ShayLynn's car had been in front of them, and he had almost crashed into her.

"You have?" ShayLynn's crow creased in confusion. "What? When? How?"

"Umm we'll go check out your car first, then we can check out ours, and if you don't remember, we'll tell you." Elena said.

ShayLynn shrugged. "Fine by me." She jumped off the couch, and shouted, "Jordana! We're gonna check out the car! Be back soon!" To Stefan and Elena, she said, "Follow me. I don't want you guys to get lost in here." She said sarcastically. She led them across the room, beside the TV and lifted up one of the lavender drapes. Behind it was a lilac door, the same colour as the wall. Obviously, the door was supposed to be camouflaged. ShayLynn opened the door, and the corridor spread out in front of them. Except this time, it was different. Instead of the gothic lamps on both sides, it was only on one side. The other side held the same glacier-shaped lamps from the living room. Except it was glowing a cobalt blue. That side of the wall and floor had blues of every shade from top to bottom. The other side, ShayLynn's side, had a plain black wall and floor streaked with cobalt blue to match Jordana's side. Before, it was dark, so Elena couldn't see the doors. There were two on each side, all camouflaged with the walls. It looked really artistic.

Elena saw ShayLynn glance at her and Stefan's expressions of awe, and smirk. She saw her feign nonchalance, and quickly walk to the door. Elena secretly smiled and followed her. ShayLynn grabbed the keys, as she shoved on her shoes and checked her reflection in the full-length mirror on the black-red wall. Elena looked away when ShayLynn did this, and put on her own sneakers. But in the corner of her eye, she saw ShayLynn re-do the ponytail and then nod at herself in approval. Elena was confused. ShayLynn seemed more like a tomboy, a tomboy that didn't care about how she looked. But now she saw her checking out herself in the mirror. She felt glad that she learned a new thing about her new friend. She looked up at Stefan, and saw him tying up his shoelaces. Elena bent down and tied up the other foot and Stefan smiled at her. She smiled back, and both of them rose to a standing position.

"Let's go." ShayLynn said as she opened the funky door.

The three of them marched outside to the parking lot. They came to a black open-top Porsche and Stefan whistled. "A black Porsche Carrera GT, am I right?" He circled the car.

ShayLynn nodded. "Yeah. That's right." Her fingers traced lightly on a painted lily on the car door. "Where's your car? Are you too embarrassed to show it?" She sneered.

"Not at all. But I have a question. Do you have an obsession for hawks?" Stefan teased, as he came to a stop at the licence plate.

ShayLynn leaned against the hood of the car. "It's more than an obsession." Her voice was quiet, but there was a hidden "Don't ask." edge to it. Stefan heard it, and stopped pressing. Instead, he said, "Come on. We'll show you our car."

They cut across the lot, and came to a stop at their own sleek black Porsche. ShayLynn, in turn, whistled. "A black 911 Turbo Porsche. Not bad." She circled it herself and came to a stop beside them. "I still don't remember…" She said.

Stefan and Elena smirked at each other. "On the highway to Vegas, did, let's say a black Porsche almost crash into you?" He asked.

Understanding lit ShayLynn's features. She turned to glare at him. "Oh. So the bastard that nearly crashed my car was you?"

Stefan and Elena smiled. "That's right." Elena said.

ShayLynn shrugged. "What the hell. Whatever." Then a naughty look came to her face.

"Do you want to race? From here, to the next apartment. There's only one, so you don't have to worry about getting lost. And there's no traffic at all at this time, so it's perfect. Loser has to wash the dishes. Are you on?" She asked.

"You're on. Meet you at the starting point in a sec. I have to call Jordana about it." She stalked off.

Elena went in the car, and buckled her seat belt tightly. She turned to Stefan. "Are you sure about it? Don't you dare crash the car. Safety comes first. Got it?"

"Mhmm." Stefan muttered, as he checked the controls. He carefully drove his way out to the starting point, and waited for ShayLynn. She was right. There wasn't a car in sight on the road. Elena leaned over, and gave Stefan a deep, smouldering kiss.

"For good luck." She said.

At that moment, ShayLynn screeched to a stop beside them. Beside her was Jordana, waving at them. ShayLynn gestured for the window to go down. Once it came down, she shouted, "When the light turns green we start. May the best driver win." She mocked, and Elena pressed the button to make her window go up.

She stared steadily at the red light, willing it to turn green. Her bet was on Stefan winning, no offence to ShayLynn. But Stefan was a vampire, and because of that, his reflexes were faster, giving them a head start. The light turned green abruptly, and Stefan screeched away, before Elena even had time to open her mouth. When her heart rate returned as close to normal as it could, she looked out the window. In surprise, she saw ShayLynn right beside them. Impossible, she thought in wonder. ShayLynn had really great reflexes too. I guess she races with her gang all the time, She thought.

They were approaching the intersection with amazing speed. But it was a red light. She looked frantically at Stefan and ShayLynn, but none of them seemed to slow down. She saw ShayLynn get at the head, beating Stefan by a meter. Stefan only gritted her teeth, and muttered, "Hold on Elena." His foot pressed down on the pedal, even though they were heading for the red light. Elena did as she was told, and gripped on whatever she could. They speeded up until they were levelled with ShayLynn. Elena peeked out at ShayLynn's face, and saw her face was a mask of concentration, hair whipping in the wind. She saw Jordana in the same position as herself, totally exhilarated.

Stefan and ShayLynn both made a smooth turn, screeching in the darkening evening. All was well-they were parallel and no cars were in the way… until, all of a sudden, a deer walked out onto the road. Even through the window, Elena could hear ShayLynn shriek, "Holy Shit!" Stefan on the other hand, had a calm mask of concentration, and she could tell he was using his mind control on it. The deer abruptly turned around, and ran into the woods, into safety. But both of them had thought they would crash, so they swerved in opposite directions. ShayLynn headed to the next lane and once again veered off to avoid the curb. Stefan, on the other hand swerved into the lanes that were supposed to be driven the opposite direction. But luckily, there were no cars at all, so he could speed back to his old lane.

They raced side by side, none of them gaining an inch, until one of them pressed down on the pedal, to go faster. ShayLynn. She screeched to a stop at the finish point and parked diagonally, skidding a few meters before coming to a full stop. Stefan on the other hand, slowed down there, and parked steadily. All of them climbed out of the car, and met at the middle point. ShayLynn was shaking out her hair, and stalking triumphantly towards them. Stefan was unaffected by the race, his hair tousled sexily. Both Jordana and Elena were slightly breathless by the race and supported each other in the middle.

"First race?" Elena wheezed. Jordana nodded sluggishly. Both of them collapsed on the road, and laughed. They sat up when the competitors met. They shook hands, and grinned at each other.

"Not bad." ShayLynn sneered. "Is it your first time?"

"You're not so bad yourself. I guess I'll have to wash the dishes today." Stefan made a face. "Oh well. And no, I've raced before." He thought of Damon, when they were still human. "Your reflexes are pretty sharp."

"I've raced with the gang a lot of times." ShayLynn explained. Elena perked up at that. She was right. "You're the second one who can match me." She winked.

Jordana spoke up. "You guys can talk all you want in the house. I gotta cook, y'know." She marched up to ShayLynn, grabbed the keys, and waved bye. As she passed by ShayLynn, ShayLynn shouted, "Wait up! Gimme my board!" Jordana stopped, and let ShayLynn pull it out, and _vroomed_ away.

"Move your asses. Or else Jordana's gonna shit about us." ShayLynn demanded, as she zigzagged away.

Stefan pulled Elena up to a stand, and sighed. "I guess we better get moving."

Elena hugged him, and said in his shoulder, "I thought we were going to crash into the deer." She felt him hug him back.

"I did too." Stefan said simply.

**One simple word: REVIEW! Yeah!!**


	8. The Gang

**I don't know if you wanted to know or anything, but ShayLynn is older than Elena by one year. Just keep in mind kay??**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters except my own. **

**Have fun!**

Love is in the Air, Chapter 8: The Gang

When they approached the door to ShayLynn's flat, they were wary about having another introduction. But they didn't have to worry, because Jordana was busy cooking in the kitchen, and ShayLynn was busy watching TV. When they went in, ShayLynn poked her head out the hidden door, and commanded, "Shut the door. And lock it. Then come in here."

Elena shrugged, and followed ShayLynn's order. She and Stefan both went in, and re-covered the drapes. They settled down on one of the couches, relaxing. ShayLynn pushed the drinks they had before towards them, and they gratefully took a sip.

"ShayLynn? Can you give us a tour of your flat?" Elena asked.

"No prob. But not the dining room." She answered. "Lemme ask Jordana if we can go in her room." She carried her drink in one hand, opened the door with the other and slipped in without letting them see what's inside. Elena immediately cuddled up to Stefan and both of them watched TV wordlessly. When ShayLynn poked her head around the door, Elena jumped away from Stefan, and arranged her face in an indifferent mask. But ShayLynn already saw, and smirked.

"Are you guys too busy cuddling to take a tour?" She mocked. She entered, once again not letting them see what was on the other side. "Come on. Let's go."

They went through the door behind the drapes, and ended up in the corridor.

"Okay, so as I said before, we split up the rooms to design. The corridor and patio is shared, as you can see. Obviously, I designed this half and she designed that half." ShayLynn gestured. She took a sip of the iced tea and swayed slightly. Stefan quickly supported her.

"Is that… wine?" He asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Don't tell Jordana though. I'll get effing killed." ShayLynn rolled her eyes. Stefan grabbed the glass, and set it on a nearby table.

"I won't tell if you don't drink." Stefan said firmly. Elena raised her head arrogantly. She was proud of Stefan for being mature.

ShayLynn rolled her eyes again, but listened to Stefan. "Go get yourself a glass of cold water, and drink it all up. Now." He continued steadily. ShayLynn rolled her eyes again, and stormed to the farther door on the blue wall. Elena smiled at him and whispered, "I'm proud of you being all… grown up."

He squeezed Elena's hand, and said, "It's what I had to do. Plus," He smirked. "I am way older than everyone here."

ShayLynn emerged from the door once again, and looked pissed off. "Okay, now as I was saying. Behind us is the door to the living room. The closer one on our left is the dining room. The one I just came out of is the kitchen. The closer one on our right is my room. The farther one is Jordana's. We're surprising you guys for the menu, so you aren't allowed to go to the kitchen or the dining room." ShayLynn narrowed her eyes. "If one of us catches you, then you're in for punishment." Wow, Elena thought. She seems really serious. It's just a surprise. She should calm down.

ShayLynn pushed open the door closest to them that had a red handprint on it. It looked like blood to Elena. ShayLynn's room. Elena stepped in, and gasped. The walls and floor were similar with the one in the corridor, but this one was streaked with blood-red, and had red paint spots, like blood. Right in front of her, was a black walk-in closet with a picture of Marianas Trench on the door, which surprised her. Shouldn't ShayLynn like someone like Marilyn Mason if she was Goth?

There were wispy crimson drapes in front of it, no doubt hiding another door. On her right was a shelf full of books. Elena walked towards it, and once again got surprised with the titles and variety of genres. There were the Harry Potter Series all the way to the Private Series. She turned, and saw a comfy maroon sofa with a black skull on it beside the closet. She continued to explore the room tentatively while ShayLynn ran to her bed that was placed in front of the couch, and collapsed on it. Behind the bed, there was a shelf that had all her electronics: her i-phone, her i-pod and the speakers, a Nintendo DS Lite , the remote controls in the middle, and two gothic lights on either side. There was a smaller flat-screen TV hanging in front of the bed that was beside more crimson drapes. There was a black wooden desk that doubled as a stationary drawer streaked with red paint, clearly done by ShayLynn herself. It only held another gothic lamp in a corner and a black laptop, with a sticker of a black lily stuck on it. This was propped up against lots of wispy maroon drapes. From what Elena could see, ShayLynn's bed was black and maroon, and there was a black lily in the center of the comforter. From the ceiling were thick black drapes, surrounding the bed. Elena stared around her in wonder, and slowly sat down on the couch. When her eyes finally trailed to ShayLynn's face, she saw her smirk.

"Well? You've been looking around my room for more than ten minutes. You should have an opinion, y 'know." ShayLynn stated. Elena got pissed off a little by the attitude. But she pushed it away, and stuffed it in a corner of her brain.

"Your design is… amazing." Elena breathed. "Even though it's not really my style, it's still breathtaking. I love how you make everyone know what your style is, when they step into the room. It's really cool." She finished. Was it cool to say that? She wondered, impressed.

"I'll have to say exactly what Elena said." Stefan agreed. "And I never knew you were so into music. And reading. And not only that, but you have a versatile book shelf, and music selection. I thought that your style only liked Marilyn Mason stuff." He said, bemused.

ShayLynn chuckled dryly. "Well, yeah. Thanks. I'm really shocked that you even know Marilyn Manson. Anyhoo, I'm more of Marianas Trench person. They rock like hell."

"I guess… and why do most of the drapes cover doors?" Elena asked.

"Oh, it's actually a theme me and Jordana decided on. It makes our flat seem more… together." ShayLynn replied, while studying her nails.

Elena's gaze drifted to the closet behind her. She noticed ShayLynn's fashion sense every day. Her clothes were unique and cool, so she really wanted to see the rest of her wardrobe. She always seemed to wear a black ribbon choker, that had a crimson plate dangling off of it, with a picture of a black lily on it. Hmm… maybe she should ask about it... later. She mused. When her attention snapped back to ShayLynn herself, she saw her smirking.

"You wanna see my closet?" ShayLynn jeered. When Elena nodded meekly, she smiled. "Well you can. But sorry Stefan. You can't come. You can surf the net if you want." She added, nodding at her laptop.

Stefan rose fluidly and smiled a little. "Thanks. Don't a need a password, though?" He was eager to continue the research for Daybreakers.

As ShayLynn and Elena headed for the walk-in closet, she called over her shoulder, "Nah. It's in sleep mode. Knock yourself out."

To Elena, she announced, "Welcome to the grand closet of ShayLynn." And made a grand sweep, nearly hitting Elena's face in the process. ShayLynn burst out laughing. Elena scowled, but laughed along with her too. She didn't even say sorry.

ShayLynn pushed open the door slowly and turned on the gothic light dangling from the ceiling. Elena's eyes widened. The closet was bigger than hers and Stefan's combined. The walls and floor had the same design as her room. There was black clothing all around her, sometimes incorporated with brilliant reds, blues, purples or greens. In the center was a black table with lots of small drawers around it. A full-length mirror was hung on the far side of the closet, decorated with gothic stickers.

"So this is my closet. There are my shirts, pants and the dresses and skirts Jordana forced me to buy, and on that side are my socks, undies, pyjamas and shoes. This table holds my accessories. That's the mirror, obviously. Tada." She said sarcastically. She looked around, and saw articles of dark clothing thrown around. She picked them up and scrutinized them.

Elena ignored her tone and ran her fingers among the dark, smooth cloths. "You have really cool clothes. I haven't told you before but…" She blushed. "I really like your style." Her cheeks flamed brighter than before. She turned back to rifling through her clothes in embarrassment. She didn't hear anything for a while, and her shoulders tensed, imagining ShayLynn's reaction to her words-her mouth curled and her eyes narrowed with disgust. The silence stretched so long, that Elena finally braced herself and turned around to meet ShayLynn's eyes. But… ShayLynn's eyes weren't looking at her repulsively. They were, instead soft, like Jordana's. Her black lipstick-coated lips weren't curled up in distaste, but one edge was curved up in a small, flattered, genuine smile. Elena smiled timidly in return.

"Thanks Elena. No one ever said that in so many words to me." She grinned. Elena felt her heart swell, with the happiness of getting even the tough ShayLynn to smile truly.

"I'm just saying the truth," Elena replied breezily.

"Come. I'll show you one of my most precious shoes." ShayLynn motioned for her to come. She opened a drawer, and there were countless shoes, mostly black skate shoes. Some were even high heeled.

"Do you really wear those?" Elena asked incredulously.

ShayLynn chuckled. "Only when I wear dresses. I can walk in them." She sounded doubtful. "Okay. Whatever. Here are the shoes!" She opened a black wooden box with a flourish, nearly hitting Elena once again. And of course ShayLynn laughed, while Elena scowled.

"Why do you keep doing that?!" Elena mumbled unhappily.

"Sorry. Anyhoo. The point are the shoes!"

When Elena looked, she raised an eyebrow. All she saw was another pair of plain black skate shoes. The inside soles and shoe laces were neon green – like her hair. She couldn't see anything special at all. Except it was placed in a sturdier wooden box.

It couldn't hurt if she's so mean to everyone, she decided.

"_These_ are the shoes?" Elena asked in disgust.

ShayLynn ran a hand over them protectively, and showed no sign of being offended. "Yeah. It's not weird that _you_ don't give a damn about them." She retorted. She gently took one out of the box, and showed the side to her. There was a giant silver signature on it next to the DC logo. "Do you know how goddamn precious they are now?" Without waiting for an answer, she gently put the shoes away and straitened up. "It's cause of the signature. Josh Ramsay's. Lead singer from Marianas Trench." Her tone implied a "duh" to it.

"Oh." Elena whispered. Damn and she didn't even look at it properly. ShayLynn didn't look as if she was going to show Elena anything else. She was right.

"C'mon. Let's go outta my closet. Nothing special here." ShayLynn glanced around, disgusted.

They left the closet together with Elena turning off the light. She walked to Stefan, and looked over his shoulder to see what Stefan was doing. She raised an eyebrow, and whispered, "You found the Daybreakers' chat room on her computer? Did you find anything interesting?" in his ear. Stefan clicked the red exit button and swivelled around in the chair. He kissed her cheek and cradled her body. "Oh yes. I think I did find something interesting. Can you guess what it is?"

Elena rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Hm. I wonder what it is..." She said teasingly. Stefan frowned. "Oh. Then I guess there isn't anything, after all." She poked him in the side. "Hey!" He exclaimed. "Oh, I can do worse than that." He started tickling her and poking, while Elena giggled uncontrollably.

"I see the loss of my presence doesn't affect you." A voice said at the door dryly. ShayLynn. She was standing at the door with her arms crossed, one of her hands clutching her i-phone. Embarrassed, Elena stepped away from Stefan.

"No, no. We were just… catching up." Elena lied.

"Hm. Yea, like you guys need to catch up after a few minutes." She snorted. "Anyhoo, I'm forced to introduce you to my gang. They're staying for dinner. Sorry." But she didn't sound sorry at all.

Elena smiled. "Sure. So… where are they?" She settled on Stefan's lap comfortably.

ShayLynn dropped her phone on the shelf behind her bed, flopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. "They just called me on my cell. Duh. They could be here any second." Elena felt hurt again. She didn't _know_ they just called, even though she was holding her phone. She bit her lip as her eyes started to water.

All of a sudden, ShayLynn's door banged open. In barged four good-looking, lanky teenagers clad in black, all laughing together. Hurt momentarily forgotten, Elena watched them closely. They all spotted ShayLynn on the bed, and three of them chorused, "Sup ShayLynn." The other one said, "Sup loser." ShayLynn sat up and smirked. "Sup guys. Sup bitch." She banged fists with all of them and collapsed onto the bed. Three of them sat on the couch, and the fourth jumped on top of all three of them. Elena winced, expecting them to shout at her in pain. But none of them did; in fact, they tickled her and laughed along with her. They only stopped when ShayLynn cleared her throat, and smiled at her. The taller girl, the one that called ShayLynn a loser, said, "What's up?"

ShayLynn rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms. "If you guys paid more attention to my room, you'd see something unusual." She said sarcastically. Elena leaned her head on Stefan's shoulder and mouthed _unusual?_ Stefan just grinned, and jerked his chin at the party in front of them.

She saw that they were all staring at her defensively. Elena immediately found Stefan's hand and squeezed. As Stefan returned the pressure, ShayLynn spoke again. "You shitheads should stop staring at them like that. Jeez. Get a fricken life." She rolled her eyes. They all scowled at her, and stood up bedside the bed. ShayLynn nodded in approval and collapsed back on the bed. "Guys, they're Stefan and Elena." ShayLynn's introduction was muffled by a pillow. There was a chorus of "hi"s. ShayLynn sat up, and continued.

"Nanami Maru." The shorter girl that landed on top of the trio stepped up awkwardly and smiled. She had a small frame, but was slightly muscular. Her hair was chin-length; dirty blond with pink streaks and her shining eyes were hazel. When it was Elena was finished with the once-over, she pushed through the crowd of friends and settled on the couch.

"Haruki Maru. Siblings, obviously." A guy stepped out from the crowd, nodded at them, his mouth in a thin line, and joined his sister at the couch. He had the same blond hair and hazel eyes, but his hair was gelled to spikes, and it was blue at the tips. He had a burly build, compared to the rest of the gang. In his ear flashed an earring.

"Wilhelmina Mystral." The taller girl stepped up and winked at them. She had wavy reddish-brown hair with black streaks in it, and her eyes were the colour of tear-drenched violets. Her build wasn't as burly as Nanami's but she had lots of curves. "Wilhelmina hates her name, so she shortened it to Mina. If anyone calls her that, she gives them shit about it." Mina grinned at ShayLynn, and glanced at the open couch behind her. She shrugged and folded herself in a cross-legged position next to ShayLynn on the bed. All of a sudden, Stefan stiffened under Elena. She rubbed his hand soothingly and traced _What's wrong?_ On it. Seconds later, she felt the presence of Stefan in her head._ When umm… Mina sat down on the bed, the guy called Haruki growled at her. You just didn't notice anything because it was at such a low pitch. It… it was nothing._ She nodded, and turned her attention back to the introductions.

"Finally, this bastard is Caine Jacey." ShayLynn sat up, smirking. But the guy called Caine didn't even scowl or twitch at her words. Instead, he too smirked slightly. He shoved his hands in the front pockets of his black jeans and hunched over. He had messy emo-styled black hair, with gold highlights at the tips of his bangs. His eyes were molten pools of caramel. Elena stared. Out of the four, he looked the most striking. He was lean and looked taller than everyone. "Caine" ignored the couch too, however, he also ignored Mina, and leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

A deafening, awkward silence descended in the room. ShayLynn was staring at the ceiling, looking as if she wanted someone else to speak up. "Mina" was idly flipping through some fashion magazine. "Haruki" was glaring at ShayLynn, his jaw clenching and unclenching. "Nanami" looked like she was daydreaming. And "Caine" was staring at the other side of the room, looking bored.

Elena felt uncomfortable, and oddly had the need to laugh. When they had entered the room, they were laughing and joking together. But now they were tense. Trying to distract herself, she drew hearts on Stefan's hand.

_So. This is quiet._ Stefan said mentally. Elena bit her tongue to keep from laughing.

_I like the names. But Haruki and Nanami aren't Japanese. I wonder why the parents picked those names, _Stefan mused._ So who's your favourite?_

Elena shrugged slightly in response.

_Same here. They all have-_ He was interrupted by an impatient ShayLynn hissing. When Elena resurfaced from her and Stefan's private little world, she saw ShayLynn still staring at the ceiling, but her hands were clenched to fists.

"Elena and Stefan. Can you please stay here for a minute? You can continue surfing the net. You assholes," Her voice was hard. She sat up, with her eyes narrowed. "Go to the living room. Now." She jerked her head at the door.

When they all filed out the door-with Haruki glaring at them as he passed-Elena let out a sigh of relief from the tension and flopped on the bed.

"Come on. Let's talk to some Daybreakers." Stefan murmmured, typing quickly on the laptop. Elena groaned, and joined Stefan at the chair.

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ShayLynn stormed inside and paced angrily around the room while the rest of the gang assembled themselves on the couches, two each. Haruki and Nanami, obviously sat together. ShayLynn strode to the front of the room, in front of the TV and surveyed the room.

"What. The _Hell_. Was that." She snarled.

"Oh, I don't know. You make new friends and want to bring them in?" Haruki snapped. "Without asking for our opinion!"

"I don't see anything wrong with that," Mina murmured mildly.

Haruki jumped up, teeth bared, and growled. ShayLynn just rolled her eyes, and waited for Nanami to calm him down. When he was seated, but had his teeth still bared, Nanami spoke up. "But they're not one of us."

ShayLynn rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in annoyance. "You idiots are effing blowing this out of proportion," She whisper-roared. "Overreacting just cause I made new friends! I never fricken said they're joining our gang! What the _hell_ made you guys think that?!"

They all blinked. Even Caine. "They're not?"

"No, stupid. They're just next door neighbours." She was calmer, now that she understood them. "And I'll still spend the same amount of time with you assholes." She sneered. When her gaze returned to her gang, she saw relief etched in every face. Smirking, ShayLynn abruptly jumped on Mina and Caine's lap. The friends all chuckled as Mina winced. They crowded around her, tickling and poking her.

"Stop, stop." When they all settled down, ShayLynn sprung up. "Are you shitheads all right with Elena and Stefan now?"

There was a chorus of yeahs and yeses, so ShayLynn led the way back to her room with one arm slung over Mina's shoulder.

"Thanks with the help back there." ShayLynn murmured almost inaudibly.

Mina nodded in welcome.

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The door was flung open, and got caught in the drapes. Elena heard a few laughs and someone saying, "Oh shit. Sorry Lynnie." Elena raised her eyebrows at Stefan, who shrugged and exited the Daybreakers' chatroom. She couldn't believe ShayLynn actually let them call her _Lynnie._ It was such a cute baby name. Polar opposite of her character.

ShayLynn, or "Lynnie" was standing in front of them, beside the couch, with the gang surrounding her. She crossed her arms, and smirked at her. "Stefan and Elena. These assholes have something to say to you guys." Then she crossed over to the bed and flopped on it, staring at the ceiling once again. The girl called Mina stepped up. "We're really sorry about acting the way we did. We were, as ShayLynn said, assholes, and we're ashamed ourselves. Right?" She added, looking back at them. Elena noticed she targeted Haruki especially. He really did look sorry, and he wasn't scowling at them anymore. "So, we've decided to do this again." Mina continued. "We're going to introduce ourselves properly, and yea." She stepped back. Nanami stepped up.

"Hi Stefan. Hi Elena. I'm Nanami Maru." She said shyly. "I don't know why my parents made my name sound all Japanese, but I'm _not._ And I'm really sorry." She went up to them, and hugged both of them.

"It's okay." Elena said warmly. "We're fine." Stefan nodded in agreement. Nanami blushed, and sat on the ground.

"Yo. I'm… really sorry." Haruki stepped up. "I was acting like a total loser, and well, I'm not. I'm Haruki Maru, Nanami's brother."

"He's just a total loser, and very protective." ShayLynn's voice drifted from the bed. Haruki nodded at them, grinning, and sat next to Nanami.

Mina stepped up. "My name is Wilhelmina Mystral. It's such a tacky name, sooo, I shortened it to Mina. If you call me that the next couple of times we meet, it doesn't matter." Her shining hair covered her face, as she leaned over to stage-whisper to them. "But if you call me that the next couple of times, you're in trouble. She winked as the gang groaned.

"That happened to me. You wouldn't want to know how I looked after that." Haruki grinned.

Mina moved to Haruki, and punched him in the head playfully. Haruki smirked, and tackled her. Elena and Stefan laughed along with the gang as Mina pinned Haruki to the ground, forcing him to surrender.

ShayLynn sat up on the bed, eyes glittering. "Okay, enough! Another bastard needs to be introduced." She smirked.

The three quickly quieted down and Mina sat down beside Nanami.

"Hello. My name is Caine Jacey, and I apologize for my behaviour before." Caine once again hunched over and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I hope you two will forgive me." His caramel eyes burned with sincerity.

Elena felt vaguely dizzy in those eyes. They were like molten lava, sweeping Elena into the depths of his soul. Smouldering, warm lava that made her want to float in it forever. She shook her head and said softly, "It's okay. It's fine." She griped Stefan's hand, not allowing herself to fall back in. She shouldn't be noticing other guys' eyes when she was in love with Stefan. Stefan, who was gentle even when she was bitchy, who forgave her when she did stupid things, who was protective while she was reckless. Fortunately, Stefan didn't notice; he was too busy talking to ShayLynn. But she was irked. He was supposed to notice things like this, and yet there he was, talking to them. Whatever.

"ShayLynn, why do you always call them bastards and assholes?" Elena interrupted sweetly. "Doesn't that make you a bitch?"

The room was silent. She could see five pairs of eyes staring at her, and feel Stefan's disapproving stare burning holes in the back of her head. ShayLynn jumped off the bed, and landed on the floor softly with a challenging stare. She crossed her arms, and smirked as she stalked towards her slowly.

Elena looked on with a steady gaze. But inside, she was quivering madly. For some reason with ShayLynn's gold eyes' piercing gaze, Elena felt terrified. Her instincts resurfaced, and it was telling her to run. _Danger! Danger!_ It flashed in her head, like a siren call. _Runrunrun!_ Panic was flooding her in waves, not allowing her to breathe properly. But she held still, and tried not to show her fear.

When ShayLynn reached her, she leaned over, so she was face-to-face with her. Elena could see every detail on her face, like the bits of eye shadow powder, and the crusty bits of mascara on her eyelashes. She could see every single pore on her skin, and her fierce eyes… they weren't only golden-brown. There were flecks of oak-green, like Stefan's, in it.

That's pretty, she mused distractedly. There aren't a lot of eyes like that.

"I can call my friends what I want. So can they. They call me a shithead and I wouldn't give a crap." ShayLynn murmured dangerously. "Do you have a problem with it?" Elena shook her head weakly. "Thought so." She smirked as she leaned back and crossed her arms.

Elena blinked rapidly while breathing in soft gasps. Her heart was beating quickly, and her palms were sweating. ShayLynn seemed to notice her condition. "Elena, girl. You can calm down." ShayLynn said. "It was just a joke." Her tone was mocking, but her eyes showed her true emotion. They were looking at her worriedly. How strange, Elena thought dazedly. She didn't insult her.

"I'm fine." She tried to make her voice steady. "It's okay. Continue talking." She gestured randomly. She felt Stefan enter her mind. _Are you sure? You look sort of sick… and terrified._ He observed. Elena hit his hand hard. I'm _fine._ She shrieked in her head. She hated how they were treating her like a three-year old, how she was the delicate one. She _wasn't_. She faced things in Fell's Church that was more dangerous and terrifying than this.

"Are you sure?" ShayLynn asked worriedly. This time, she sounded truly concerned. "If you're really terrified, Jordana will kill me." All of a sudden, the whole gang's mouths quirked up in a smile simultaneously, including ShayLynn's. It was as if they were sharing some inside joke. As Elena watched incredulously, annoyance forgotten, they seemed unconscious of it.

"Yes." ShayLynn looked relieved, but kept the smirk. "Umm… you guys know all of you are smirking at us." Elena told them.

They looked at each other, surprised, and laughed. "Accident. Accident." Nanami giggled.

At this point, Elena was calmer, and she asked, "Seriously, ShayLynn. Why do you call them names? And why don't you guys mind?"

They chuckled and Haruki answered for her. "She calls us names, because it's her nature." He shrugged. "And we don't mind because it's the way she is."

"And that's why we love her." Mina said, grinning, as she jumped on ShayLynn and hugged her.

"Bleh. Get your crappy arms away from me." ShayLynn's muffled voice floated from the bed. Elena disagreed tremendously. Mina's arms were perfectly toned, and lean. There was a series of giggles, and Elena cleared her throat. Five pairs of eyes stared at her once again. She felt uncomfortable; this was getting repetitive.

"I've been noticing your clothes and stuff. And, well you all seem to have an obsession over black flowers." Elena gestured to all of them. "ShayLynn, your car, bed covers, skateboard, laptop and choker has a black lily on it. Mina, you have a bracelet with a black dahlia on it. Nanami, you have a necklace with a black lily on it, too. I don't know about you guys, but I'm sure you have it too."

The gang all exchanged a glance. They seemed nervous, for some reason.

"Well you're observant." Mina said.

"Yeah, we all have accessories with a black flower on it." Caine said. "And if you want to know, I have a ring with a black rose on it. And Haruki has a watch with a black lily." He shrugged. "Nothing special, really."

"Why do ShayLynn, Haruki and Nanami have the same flowers?" Elena perked up. "Oh, and am I allowed to see?"

Caine looked around uneasily. "Ummm…"

Someone knocked on the door. "What do you want?" ShayLynn called, relieved. Jordana came in, and crossed her arms. She looked strangely like ShayLynn when she did this, Elena noticed. "Dinner's ready. Sorry about the delay." She added to Elena and Stefan warmly. "It's just that _some people_-"

"_Assholes."_ ShayLynn corrected.

"Some _assholes_ just barged in and told me they were staying for dinner, without warning." She glared at the gang, and they smiled sheepishly back. "Come on." She briskly walked out the door.

"Gogogo." ShayLynn sighed.

"Wait! I have one more question!" Elena cried. When they all warily paused at the doorway, Elena continued. "Does your gang have a name, or anything?"

They all turned around simultaneously. ShayLynn grinned. "Well, we sort have one, but it's not really _ours_."

Elena waited. Time passed, and none of them said anything. Finally impatient, she spoke. "Well? Aren't you going to tell me what the hell it is?"

They all looked at each other, and one of them mumbled, "Someone's rubbing off of ShayLynn."

"It's…?" Elena pressed.

The gang took a deep breath, and spoke the word distinctly as one.

"Daybreakers."

**Ladeda! Don't worry! They shall meet the other Daybreakers sometime! HAVE PATIENCE!! And meanwhile, why don't you just click that button and review for me, hmm?**


	9. Eavesdropping

**Here you go!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Except for my lovely gang.**

Love is in the Air, Chapter 9: Eavesdropping

_Saturday, August 27__th__, 5:28 pm_

_Dear Diary, _

_It's been a few days since we went to ShayLynn's flat for dinner. We've been busy ever since she told us her gang's name was Daybreakers. It kind of makes sense… because she was the one who dragged us out of the building when we eavesdropped. Stefan and I have been going to ShayLynn's flat to search for clues in her room. I think we're actually getting closer… being good friends. Anyway, we've found nothing. Nothing in her room that links her and the Daybreakers we heard from the building. I hope we'll find something this time. We're going back to the building to see if there are any clues there._

_Elena_

"We're there." Stefan said, startling Elena out of her thoughts. She looked out the window. Was it possible, that it looked dirtier and messier than before? She shook her head in disgust and shoved her diary under a pillow. She opened the car door, and stepped out, joining Stefan.

Placing her sunglass on her head, she whispered, "It sucks how we've been to ShayLynn's house so many times, and can't find anything." They walked into the building warily. Just in case someone sees them, they put on running shoes and black clothing.

"Let's hope we can find out about this here." Stefan murmured.

The stairs creaked as they carefully made their way to the dusty door. The door was less dusty, but there weren't any footprints either. It seems like they noticed the dust was too obvious. Stefan pressed his ear against the door delicately, his face twisting in the process. He doesn't approve of eavesdropping, it seemed. Elena copied him, except for the face-twisting. She tried to slow her breathing and listened hard.

"… job well done, people. But next time, try not to make the news please." This voice sounded familiar, especially that commanding tone. Elena's breath caught. Yes! They found the people again! She listened intently.

"Thank you Thierry. But they seemed to want to make a big show on this." This male voice was unfamiliar. It was young like the others, and gentle. Elena was oddly reminded of the colour gold.

"It was kind of hard to stop them, sir. They had more people. Winnie and Nissa tried as hard as they could. But they broke through our defences and starting attacking Galen too." The voice hardened. This one was a female's and sounded wild but cool. "Even though he didn't change yet. They almost got Iliana too. We didn't have enough people, that's all."

"I'm assuming you wanted more, Keller?" The commanding voice, Thierry's voice drifted through the door tightly. "You already have one Wild Power."Elena nearly jumped with excitement. They found Keller and Galen, who was supposed to be in San Francisco, in a battle. Apparently, they had won, but there was a big show. Realization dawned on Elena. So that was the battle in San Francisco. There was a three-minute clip on the news saying there were gangs fighting, and a building was destroyed. But it was filmed shakily, so no faces were shown.

"Look, I'm just a grunt; I obey orders. But Iliana shouldn't need to help. This was easy. Simple. We were outnumbered by ten to five. Can we just have one more person, to even it out?" The girl called Keller asked.

Some one sighed. "Fine. Pick anyone. But Rashel and Quinn will always stay together, and they want to stay with their team. The last time I heard, they said they were the best team." The guy called Thierry said, amused.

"Then I'll pick someone from another team." Keller said through her teeth.

"Okay. That's settled. I want your team to stay here for a while, let another one handle the battles. You've done a great job; you deserve a break."

"No! No. It's fine." Keller almost shouted.

"It's not fine, Boss. You got hurt this time. Let us heal you." This was a new voice… it sounded light and carefree.

"I'm fine!" Keller growled.

"But Boss-"

"No Winnie. I'm _fine._" So this was Winnie. Elena assumed this was one of the people in Keller's team.

"Boss-"

"Don't push her. She's going to snap at you soon." A cool female voice advised. It sounded almost expressionless, but soft.

Someone sighed. "Nissa's right. Thierry, I guess we can't take a break." The golden, gentle voice said. Galen's voice. So the voice before was probably Nissa's. Elena's head was throbbing with all the mixed up emotions and things she wanted to remember.

"I want you all to take a vacation at my house, starting now." Thierry's voice was gentle, but it held an unmistakable power that no one can disobey. "No exceptions, okay?"

Suddenly, Elena could hear other things aside from the voices behind the door. Footsteps. With a hushed gasp, she spun around and found herself looking into cold, black bottomless eyes. She tried to move away, but was held by a grip like steel. Elena opened her mouth to scream, but a hand clamped on her mouth. This was getting repetitive, Elena thought abstractly. Before she could form another coherent thought, everything went black.

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_She was floating in a beautiful, white light. Suddenly, voices were echoing around. Daybreakers… Daybreakers…_ Images whipped Elena in her head._ ShayLynn threatening her. Mina stage-whispering to her. Caine and his burning caramel eyes. Haruki and his glare. Nanami giggling uncontrollably. Daybreakers… Daybreakers… The voice behind the door. "… attack near San Francisco. We have to send help there immediately." Daybreakers… the unheard footsteps… "…job well done, people. But next time, try not to make the news, please."…the vampire baring his fangs… drinking her blood by force… turning to Stefan… _Elena tossed and turned, groaning audibly. _The vampire's fangs… the eyes… blood-red… streaked with black… cold, black bottomless eyes…steak blood dripping from lips… lips opening, revealing sharp fangs… vampire… fangs piercing her flesh… blood out… pain… pain…_

Gasping, Elena gripped some sort of fabric like a drowning swimmer holding a lifeguard. "Are you alright?" Someone asked in front of her.

Elena blinked rapidly. Her head throbbed. There were millions of tiny black dots dancing in her vision, not allowing her to realize what was happening. She had lost sense of where she was, what she was doing here, and what time it is. The last thing she remembered was being with Stefan… they had gone back to the old building and pressed their ears to the dust door. She had heard some voices… but only one was familiar. She shook her head fiercely. There was Thierry… Keller and Galen… and others…Winnie… and Nissie? Nissal? Nissa? She was so confused.

"Are you alright?" the voice asked her again. She opened her eyes to see Stefan, holding her shoulders, anxiously looking at her.

"Where am I?" She croaked. She raised her head, and the room revolved around her. She flopped back down, and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, it wasn't moving anymore. The room was purple.

"We're in ShayLynn's living room." He replied. His brow furrowed. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Elena nodded weakly. "What happened? I mean we were eavesdropping again… and then I heard footsteps and then I turned around and then I saw really dark black eyes that was sort of scary and then it was black and then – "

"Shh. I know. We were attacked." Stefan whispered. "We were brought to ShayLynn's house. Oh, and she's coming. Don't talk."

"How's she doing?" ShayLynn's concerned voice floated above her.

Elena opened her eyes. "I'm fine. My head just hurts." She winced. ShayLynn had her mouth pursed unhappily. She held out an ice pack and Elena took it, pressing to her forehead. She saw Stefan looking at her disapprovingly at her. Oh right. He told me to keep quiet, she thought. She shot an apologetic look at him, and focused on ShayLynn. Her hair was down, but tied up casually, and she wore black sweatpants with a neon green tank top.

"What happened?" She asked again. "What am I doing here?"

ShayLynn sat down on one of the couches. "What I want to know is what you two were doing there again."

"You answer first."

She rolled her golden eyes. "You two were delivered to my door, unconscious by Jordana. She had to leave right after so I had to drag you guys in here. Stefan woke up first, and then you did. That's it." She narrowed her eyes. "Your turn."

"We were…" Elena struggled to think of a lie.

"Exploring again." Stefan said smoothly.

ShayLynn's eyes flashed. "Liar! Tell. Me. The truth."

"It's the truth ShayLynn." Elena stuck her chin out.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?! Tell me the truth."

Elena sighed resigning. "The first time we went to the building, we eavesdropped and heard something about a battle at San Francisco. They were called Daybreakers." She stopped to take a breath. "Then we show up at your flat, and you tell us your _gang's_ name is Daybreakers. So we tried to snoop a little." She flushed a little at this. But ShayLynn's face was indifferent.

"I knew that. Go on."

"Since we didn't find anything, we decided to go back to the building for any clues about this. And then we were knocked out, I guess."

The three looked at each other in silence. Stefan and Elena in shame, and ShayLynn in mild scepticism. Finally, ShayLynn let her breath out in a hiss and spoke.

"I told you before that eavesdropping is a bad habit. Don't say I didn't warn you idiots." She said stiffly. "I guess you're wondering why our gang's name is "Daybreakers". There's a movie coming out in 2010, and we think it's the best movie yet. So we named our gang after it. Anyhoo, don't go again. I don't want Jordana to freak, thinking you losers are dead. " Her eyes narrowed.

"Okay. Can we stay for dinner again?" Elena asked, hopeful.

ShayLynn narrowed her eyes again. "Is this to snoop in my room?"

"We have no reason to snoop anymore."

"Then okay. But the bastards are coming too."

"Stop calling them bastards." Elena hated her swearing.

"I can call them bastards if I want, bastard."

"Fine. But don't call me a bastard, bastard."

"You're the bastard."

"And you're –" Elena was cut off by ShayLynn's i-phone ringing "All to Myself" by Marianas Trench. ShayLynn smirked, clearly knowing she won. She picked up the phone, and said, "Talk." Lazily. Then her expression changed fractionally, and she stood up and strode to her room, slamming the door closed with her foot.

"Do you remember what happened?" Stefan asked quietly.

"Sort of. There was Thierry, Keller, Galen, Winnie, and Nissie? Nissal? Niss-something. They returned from the battle and Thierry wants them to take a break or something. Then I got hit. Wait. I remember turning around and looking into really cold black eyes. But that's it." She murmured quickly.

Stefan nodded. "Nissa." His voice turned pleading. "I'm sorry Elena. I can't believe I'm not taking care of you. We've been hit twice already, and I couldn't protect you." He ran his fingers through his hair frustratingly. "Maybe you should've stayed with Damon. At least he would've not let you get hurt." He mumbled. Elena could hear the pain and the desperation in his voice. She secured the ice pack with one hand and reached forward. She wrapped him in an awkward hug with one hand, and whispered, "No. I am absolutely positive about my choice. Don't say that again, Stefan." Her tone turned fierce. "You just have to feed. Once we go home, okay?"

Stefan nodded stiffly, and forced a smile.

"Oh crap. And I forgot… our car's still there." Elena tried not to laugh as Stefan eyes and mouth widened with horror.

"Damn."

**I know this has been a sort of boring chapter, but I really want to skip this part. XD Anyhoo, you can put in your review how much you hate me! =)**


	10. Shit

**LADEDA! I've decided to speed this up a bit! Now, this event happened a month later!! KEEP THAT IN MIND PEOPLE!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Bleh.**

Love is in the air, Chapter 10: Shit

_Monday, September 27__th__, 12:46 pm_

_Dear Bonnie, Meredith and Matt,_

_Hello. How are things at Fell's Church? I hope it's calmer once we left. And who's queen of the school when I'm gone? Not Caroline, please. Don't tell me that. Is Damon still bothering you guys? If so, you could tell him to piss off. I know. I never say that. But it's just because I've made new friends. But before you (mainly Bonnie) start bawling like a baby, I want you people to read on. I really miss you guys. And no one will replace you guys in my heart. You've been the best friends anyone could have. =) So continuing, I made new friends. They're sort of bad-ass. All older than me. Oh, and if you guys are dying to know, Stefan took me to Las Vegas. Yup. It's really glittery and loud, different from Fell's Church. It took me about a week to get used to it. Now that I think of it, how dare you people betray my secret of reading the Twilight Saga?! I can't believe it. I'm furious. =)_

_Bonnie, are you still using your powers? Do you still find death romantic? Did you find a guy yet? I hope so. You're always complaining about me and Meredith getting all the boys. _

_Meredith. How are things with Alaric? I wish you well. But remember, you have to take care of Bonnie when she's crazy. Help her with your calmness. _

_Matt. Oh Matt. How _are_ you? Are you still in football? Have you found someone else yet? Every day I pray that you have. And I hope you've taken care of my other best friends, being the protective one._

_Guys, guess what? I've been attacked by some random vampires when I was taking a night walk alone. I know, you're probably thinking, "How stupid can you be?" I agree. And then I got saved by some mysterious person. It's strange how we can't escape the supernatural, even though we move. Anyway, one day, we came across a really dirty old building. And we overheard some people talking about a battle at San Francisco. And guess what? It went on the news. Except they say it was two gangs fighting. Weird._

_Stefan says hello too, and he wishes you all the best. I miss you guys. Wish you were here right now._

_Lots of Love,_

_Elena and Stefan_

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ShayLynn tossed and turned on her bed, desperate to get some sleep before the next day. Exasperated, she sat up on her bed, and switched on both of her gothic lamps. She rubbed her blood-shot eyes grumpily and glanced at her i-phone's clock. Its blood-red digits glowed 1:15 am. Groaning, she crawled out of bed, and stood, glaring at the window.

The moon was glowing in the dark sky, throwing dark shadows into corners and on to the streets. Rolling her eyes, ShayLynn turned her back on the window. The peaceful view outside wasn't calming her restless brain, for once. She started pacing in her room, trying to figure out a solution to her problem. She needed to get lots of rest, for tomorrow, if she and the gang were going hunting. Well at least _most_ of the gang, she amended. She sighed. Mina, the most smart and mature one of the gang wasn't going.

For the 3rd time, ShayLynn came to a stop at her window. As she was about to head back for another round, she paused, and turned back to the window. It seemed light enough, especially with _her_ vision. She grinned, finding the perfect solution. She flew into her closet, quickly changed out of her pyjamas and threw on a black T-shirt with a blood-red skull on it, and a pair of ripped, black jeans that had a chain dangling off of it. She crept to the bathroom and yanked a comb through her long, neon-green and black hair.

Sneaking through the hallways, to not wake her beloved cousin Jordana up, she shoved on her shoes, and grabbed her skateboard from the closet next to the front door. She checked her appearance in the mirror quickly, just to make sure she looked decent. She was not vain, but she always liked to look acceptable, just in case someone spots her.

In the mirror, she saw a tan girl, with straight black hair that was up to her waist, with neon-green highlights on it. She had dark lashes framing sharp, glinting, golden-brown eyes, which looked as if nothing could escape its vision. If you look deep enough, you can just make out flecks of oak green.

Making the eyes stand out furthermore, was charcoal eye shadow, and dark black mascara. Her full lips were coated with black lipstick. In the top her right ear, there was a small black hoop, and in the earlobe, there were two earrings: one skull-shaped, and one black stud. In her left ear, there was only one stud in black. In her nose was a black stud.

The girl was wearing all black, even her skater shoes, except the silver chain, dangling off her jeans, the red skull on her shirt, and most importantly, an iron rectangle, painted red with a black lily on it, hanging off of a black ribbon choker.

She was holding a blood-red skateboard, with black wheels, and a picture of a black lily in the middle. Framing the lily, two black words were spelled out diagonally: HAWK GAL.

This girl in the mirror looked truly _BAD-ASS_.

Satisfied with her appearance, ShayLynn opened the front door, and rushed out into the cool night air, holding the skateboard with one hand. Looking around, the quiet landscape didn't stir; not even a fly buzzed by.

She dropped the skateboard on the road, put one foot onto it, and pushed off. Having experience on the roads, ShayLynn purposely picked a downhill so she can skate faster. As she started to pick up speed, the air whistled across her arms, and onto her cheeks. Her hair blew out behind her, whipping in the wind, like a sail. She instantly relaxed with the familiarity.

As she turned into another street, ShayLynn's sharp eyes picked up the reflection of car coming towards her. Totally prepared for it, she gracefully steered the skateboard onto a sidewalk, barely missing the car by inches. The car honked, and she wickedly flipped them the bird, knowing thoroughly how ironic it was. Thoroughly exhilarated, she snickered, and continued her way up the street. This happened quite a few times, before she decided to go back home.

Seven blocks away from her house, she slowed down, breathing hard from her circuit. She was just about to speed up again, when felt the presence of another one of her kind. Her head cocked to one side, expanded her senses to find the mysterious person. Targeting to her right, she pushed off slowly on her skateboard, searching for it. Passing by a dark alley, ShayLynn heard squawks of a pigeon in pain. Narrowing her eyes, she stepped off her skateboard, hugged it closely to her chest, and stepped into the shadows.

Staring into the darkness, she impossibly saw a dark figure at the end of the alley that had their back turned to her. She heard the gulps of someone drinking. She widened her eyes in disbelief. _Caine?_ She mentally prodded the shadow.

Caine was the only one that was the same age as ShayLynn, aside from Mina, and gave the impression to everyone as being the mysterious and nice one. Sighing, she remembered the first day of school at Black Petunia High School. Everyone had shunned her completely, because of her striking style and attitude. Shaking her head out of the memory, she focused on the task at hand.

_Yo. Is that you Caine?_ ShayLynn gently continued to prod the shadow. He shouldn't be here right now… considering that most of the gang were going hunting tomorrow. And if that really was Caine, he should have answered already. Confusion turning to doubt, she reached the figure.

"Caine? Is that you?" She asked gently, out loud.

The figure stiffened, and spun around sharply, dropping something to the ground. The figure was a boy around her age, with messy, dark brown hair and oak green eyes, in a predator's crouch, snarling and glaring, with cherry-red blood dripping from his lips and… fangs. Seeing who this was, he relaxed his stance and stood up in one fluid motion. He reached towards her with a worried look on his face.

"I… ShayLynn… Look, I'm not going to hurt you. Please. Don't run away." He said, with burning green eyes, and hastily wiped his mouth with his shirtsleeve, staining it with blood.

ShayLynn involuntarily took a step back, and whispered with a hint of pain in her voice, "Stefan? You're a… vampire?" Disbelief coloured her features.

He looked away, ashamed. "I'm sorry. ShayLynn, honestly. I really… I won't hurt you." He looked back at her with green fire burning in his eyes.

Fury, disbelief and hurt shone on her face, and gradually, it hardened, with a cold, indifferent look. She forgot about her skateboard, and backed away, never once taking her eyes off of him.

Stefan took a step forward, and stopped when ShayLynn flinched. "Don't run away! I can explain! Just stay!" Memories of when Elena found out came flooding back and he worried that ShayLynn would hurt herself.

ShayLynn threw her head back and laughed cruelly. Still not taking her eyes off of him, she said coldly, "You don't need to explain. I know everything I need to know. You're a vampire. A cold-blooded leech. A parasite. You are _shit._ And you know what? I hate you. And your kind." She narrowed her golden-brown eyes as she said this, and took one more step back. She steeled herself, and then sprinted.

Towards Stefan.

Looking in horror, he called out to her in panic, "What are you doing ShayLynn?? Stop!!" As he racked his brain for any solution.

ShayLynn glared at him in fury, and growled between her clenched teeth, "Don't. You. DARE. Say. My. Name." Instinctively, she measured the distance between her and the parasite. _Close enough._ She thought. And then jumped.

Changing in mid-air was ShayLynn's favourite way. After all, it looked cool, and it took quite a bit of skill.

As time stood still, ShayLynn shivered as a feeling of painful release enveloped her. Her body was starting to change, and for a moment, she felt like she was bodiless. A feeling of being truly … free.

And then her arms were thinning, and her fingers joined together as one. Her leg muscles started to bunch up, as they shrank. Her spine lengthened, and at the end, the place that never felt finished when she was in human form, something smooth and feathery erupted out – her tail. The fine hairs that grew on her skin retracted, having soft, silky, black feathers grow in their place. Her toes thinned, and one toe withdrew from each foot. Each toe nail began to grow longer and sharper, into deadly talons. Her mouth and nose lengthened, and joined together to form a hard, hooked, black bill that can crush rocks and bones of small animals into many pieces. Her eyes shrank, to the size of a ping-pong ball and her pupils widened in size. Her irises expanded to cover the whites and its' colour turned even more jewel-like, looking like amber.

Ruffling her silky black feathers, ShayLynn blissfully uttered a soft pipe of what she was right now – a Great Black Hawk. She saw how Stefan looked at her now, and proudly flapped her long wings. Returning to the important task, she swiftly swooped down, and started to scratch the horrible _leech_ with dangerously sharp talons.

Shocked and unprepared, Stefan had his flesh torn. Blood flowed, and seeped into his clothes. He instinctively covered his face with his arms, and got scratched there too. He cried out in pain, and fell to his knees. "ShayLynn! Stop! Please! I have no intention on harming you! Please stop!"

Ignoring his cries completely, ShayLynn starting to peck at him furiously. _You blood sucking filth! Parasite! Leech!_ She shrieked mentally at him. _Playing with my feelings! Pretending to be my friend! I trusted you! And you…!_ She stopped attacking him, and decided that it was time to finish him off. Stefan slumped, spread-eagled on the ground. ShayLynn flew up, and scanned the floor quickly for a piece of wood. Finding a broken wooden stick, she used her sharp bill to shape it like a stake. Satisfied with her work, she clenched the blunt half in her bill, making the sharp side stick out. She steeled herself, and swooped down at a fast rate, keeping her eyes on Stefan's dead heart.

**Yersshhh! I wanted to post this for so long!!! Muahahaa!!! Cliffhanger again! I've got the other chapter, waiting for you guys… but I need reviews first. Booyea.**


	11. Peace

**I'm happy. =)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This sucks. Eggs.**

Love is the Air, Chapter 11: Peace

Stefan was in shock.

He had been feeding on pigeons hungrily earlier in the night. But that was only because Elena blackmailed him into it. After that, he caught a few pigeons from the rooftop and then snuck in an alleyway to secretly feed. He was very absorbed in it, and was just finishing the last one when a voice that was very close behind him asked, "Caine? Is that you?"

Startled, he froze. But then his vampire instincts kicked in, turning him around to snarl and glare at the human. He looked up at the face, and with a start, he recognized the black and neon-green hair, as well as the pretty, tan face with sharp golden-brown eyes that was accented by tons of makeup. ShayLynn.

Relaxing, he stood up, but caught sight of her face. Instantly worried, he reached out to comfort her, and tried to explain. He realized that she was staring at his mouth, and wiped it, to clear it of blood.

To clarify the fact that he was a monster, ShayLynn asked him the horrid question, making him feel ashamed once again in his life. However, he had to try and convince her that he wasn't dangerous, struggling for the right words. Unfortunately, he chose wrong ones, and watched in horror as ShayLynn's face hardened, and backed away.

He had racked his brains to make her stay, and not be afraid. However, he saw that she was acting a little crazily. Her face had become hard, like stone, and her normal cool voice had turned harsh. Then she started to call him names. Not the same affectionate names she called her gang and Elena, but different ones, reserved for vampire-haters. He flinched internally at it. Of course. _Everything she said was true. I don't deserve to live, _he had thought, and deliberated if he should run after her or not. Remembering how she had flinched before, he chose not to. Watching her continue to back up, until she reached the opening of the alley, he felt that she would turn around and start running away, screaming.

Tensed to run after her, Stefan had waited impatiently.

But then she was running the wrong way – towards him. For the second time that night, he panicked, and tried to calm both him and ShayLynn down. Unsuccessfully. ShayLynn had rejected him ruthlessly and continued to run. And as she neared him, she jumped, and flew up in the air at an astounding level.

He watched in awe as she transformed. An otherworldly glow seemed to shine around ShayLynn, glowing brightly in vibrant colours that would've made any rainbow jealous. The air shimmered, and her human body disappeared. A smaller, more compact shape seemed to take its place, looking as if it were absorbing the beautiful glow into itself. Growing more and more defined; it let out a soft pipe, as the sky returned to its grey and dull colour. Flapping its wings proudly, a stunning black hawk had glanced down at Stefan scornfully. Its black feathers looked as smooth as silk and its bill and talons shined in the moonlight as if it were sculpted by the finest artists. But Stefan had noticed that the most striking feature was its eyes. Glowing golden-brown, with the look of a predator, its sharp gaze cut into him like a knife in butter, having only one task: to kill him.

Still in a trance, Stefan hadn't noticed the hawk suddenly swoop down and attack him. Its talons had pierced his skin easily, and left deep, bloody gashes. Finding the pain unbearable, he had remembered who this bird really was, and cried out for mercy.

But ShayLynn hadn't paid it any attention. She had continued to scratch him, until he lost lots of blood. Almost too much to live.

Hanging on to the edge of consciousness, Stefan glanced up painfully, and saw the Hawk Gal shaping a piece of wood into a makeshift stake. Knowing that he didn't have lots of time, he sent out one wave of Power to Elena, showing her where he was. Already out of energy, he sagged, and clung on to the thread of hope that Elena would stop ShayLynn from killing him, before it was too late.

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Elena was worried.

She had encouraged Stefan earlier, to go hunt. But that was hours ago, and he had never took so long before. _What if someone finds him while he's feeding? What if he gets hurt?_ So many worries were cooped up in her mind.

Pacing around their new rented flat, she tried to be patient. There was nothing she could do, not even simple chores that can help distract her. Stefan made sure that he helped with them, instead of leaving it all to Elena.

Sighing, she turned around and headed for the kitchen. _Maybe there's something there to do._ Finding nothing there, she marched back to the living room, and sank unhappily onto their fluffy, white couch. There really wasn't _anything_ to do. Reaching over, she took the remote control, turned on their brand-new 42-inch T.V. and flipped through the channels. Finding nothing interesting to watch, she rolled her eyes, and glanced at the clock that was artfully positioned on the wall. It said 3:01. In the morning. Worried once again, Elena lay back on the couch and stared moodily at the ceiling.

_It's been three hours already! Where could he be? He usually only takes 1 hour! _She thought, while anxiously fiddling with the lapis lazuli ring she was wearing.

At last, Elena gave up. She headed back to their bed and crawled under the sheets. She closed her eyes, and got some peace. Away from the worries about Stefan, away from the worries for anyone. Elena's heart beat slowed to a healthy rate, and dozed off.

_She was in a place full of mist…and it terrified her. Where was she? She couldn't see anything. Oh right. The mist. Is this a dream? It felt strangely surreal, yet everything felt quite _real.

_Feeling a great pull in her chest, Elena's thoughts were scattered, and she walked forward, with big strides. She didn't know where she was going, but felt like she had to continue walking. She walked on and on. Was she walking for hours? Or days? Or mere seconds? She never got tired. All the same, she continued. She felt like she was walking endlessly, in the same spot. The fog didn't get thicker, but it didn't get thinner either. She was blind to her surroundings. _

_Finally, after quite a bit of walking, she heard a pained cry. Feeling relieved that someone was here, yet shocked, she picked up the pace. But found nothing. _

_"Is anyone there?" She called. "Hello?" Elena continued blindly, running and calling, searching for at least a sign of life. There was no direction to her, only endless fog and mist. There wasn't even that significant pull that made her want to walk. Feeling rather helpless, she sat down, and gazed through the fog, trying to find _something._ Finding nothing. This was so strange to her, that if she weren't feeling so lonely and scared, she would've started laughing. _

_Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was another pained cry. But feeling discouraged, she just thought that it was a figment of her imagination._

_But there it was again. Feeling more positive, Elena stood up and strode forward, trying to find the source. _

_Abruptly, the mist parted. A cool wind blew, making her shiver. There wasn't much to see, however, because instead of the gentle mist, there was only a cold, dark, night sky. When she looked down, she discovered that she was standing on white clouds. _

_How peculiar, she thought. _

_She hurried towards the occasional cries of pain, hoping she would get there in time. Finally, she saw a dark figure slumped on the ground. When Elena looked around for the attacker, she found nothing. Hearing her quiet footsteps, the figure raised his head, and with a jolt, Elena recognized Stefan lying there. Sucking in a deep breath, Elena rushed to him._

_"What happened Stefan? Who hurt you? Where are they now? Where are you? Where am I? What-"_

_"I don't have much time, Elena. I need you to listen now." Stefan panted, interrupting Elena's flow of questions. When Elena nodded swiftly, he continued. "I'm being attacked by ShayLynn. I don't know what she is, but right now, she's in the form of a black hawk. Don't ask. I'm getting weak Elena. I'm sorry, but I need your help. I'm going to show you where I am right now. If you forget the picture, I'm at the left, seven blocks from our flat, and at the end of a dark alley. I hope you can make it Elena. But if you don't you don't have to blame yourself. Just remember. I love you." His green eyes burned fiercely into hers, and then his image shimmered, and disappeared, along with the peaceful landscape. _

_In its place was a dark, dark alley, with drained pigeons on the floor. There was a dark figure beside them and a striking black hawk with familiar golden-brown eyes that was sharpening a piece of wood. At the entrance was a skateboard with a black lily and the words "Hawk Gal" on it. _

With a jolt of familiarity, Elena got pulled out of the dream, and awoke, gasping for breath. _What had just happened?_ She thought. A flash of images went through her brain, and she sat up sharply in her bed. The room revolved briefly. Was that all just a dream, or was that really Stefan, asking for help? Glancing at the clock, she realized that Stefan still wasn't home. Not taking chances, Elena threw the covers off of her, shoved her feet inside her sneakers, and sprinted out the door.

Half way down the street, she realized something. _Damn._ She cursed. She forgot to bring a flashlight and a first aid kit. Not to mention lock the door.

Heading back, she grabbed all these things and threw them in a mini backpack. Running back to the entrance, she fumbled with the keys, and grasped that she couldn't fit it into the keyhole because her hand was shaking. Steadying her it with her other hand, she finally fit it in.

Done at last, Elena sprinted out into the cool night air. Remembering Stefan's instructions, she went into an alley and desperately called, "Stefan?" But there was no answer. Taking off her backpack, she took out the flashlight, and turned it on. Realizing that this was the wrong alley, she cursed, and turned back. She wanted so frantically to sprint blindly to another one, but knowing that this won't help; she settled for speed walking and thought logically.

_I'm at the left, seven blocks from our flat, and at the end of a dark alley._

She heard the words ringing clearly in her mind.

_I'm at the left._

Grasping her mistake, she turned the opposite way.

_How can you be so stupid?! He said LEFT. He might as well be dead now, because of your stupidity._ She raged silently at herself, as she sprinted.

Reaching the mouth of the alley, she turned on the flashlight, and shined it around shakily. Trying to slow down her breathing, Elena entered the alley.

_At the entrance was a skateboard with a black lily and the words "Hawk Gal" on it. _

Bingo. This must be the right one. Elena quickly ran down the alley, shining the flashlight everywhere. When she reached precisely the middle of the alley, Elena found a flying hawk, with black feathers shimmering.

Time slowed as she figured out what was happening. The magnificent black hawk was diving down with a roughly shaped stake in its beak.

And it was aiming for Stefan's lifeless body.

Elena braced herself, cleared her throat, and desperately shouted at the bird.

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"Stop! Drop that stick!" A strong voice rang out.

Momentarily confused, ShayLynn curved up, and landed on the wall, dropping the stake beside her. She looked towards the voice, and saw that it was Elena. She was at Stefan's side and examining his wounds. Of course Elena knew. Hatred boiled up in her and she started to plan her attack again.

But this time at Elena.

As ShayLynn extended her talons, she discovered Stefan, the parasite, doing something very confusing. So confusing that it stopped ShayLynn in her tracks.

Before, Elena was tilting her head back, exposing her throat, and bending her head towards Stefan's mouth. But as ShayLynn prepared to attack, she saw Stefan shake his head weakly at her. After a few seconds, he resigned, and bit her throat with his sharp fangs. ShayLynn landed with a flurry of wings and cocked her head, watching. She was confused because she couldn't believe Stefan actually _refused_ to drink Elena's blood, even though Elena willingly offered him it.

As ShayLynn stared at him in surprise, Stefan finished drinking, and gradually, some colour returned to his cheeks, and his wounds started healing up. She watched as Elena positioned herself to a cross-legged pose, and laid Stefan's head in her lap tenderly. Watched as she opened the first aid kit she brought with her and started dabbing at an open scratch on his arm with an anxious look on her face. ShayLynn kept silent, wondering how Elena could stand loving a _parasite._

When they finally got as comfortable as they can, Stefan spoke. His voice was so weak, that it was just a cracked whisper.

"Thank you Elena." He spoke formally, but gazed at her with such tenderness, that ShayLynn momentarily forgot she was looking at a blood-sucking monster. He turned to ShayLynn, and she could feel that he was admiring how she looked. Feeling self-conscious, ShayLynn fluttered her wings uncomfortably, and turned to go. Stefan quickly grasped how she felt, and continued desperately. "ShayLynn, we – as in Elena" he gestured to her. "And I – have been talking. We would like you to tell us why you started attacking me. And, err… we think it would be easier to discuss this if you were in human form."

ShayLynn looked uneasily between the both of them. If she were to change back, then it would make her more vulnerable. She narrowed her eyes, and cocked her head, as if asking, _Am I so stupid to trust you in my human form?_

Elena changed the cotton that she was dabbing with on Stefan's head. "Stefan, she doesn't trust us." She translated, and then turned back to ShayLynn. "Look. I know you don't trust us, but I _know_ Stefan isn't evil. All these years, he's been rejecting what he is. That's why he's so weak. He won't harm you, I promise." She gazed into ShayLynn's golden hawk eyes with her own lapis lazuli ones, willing her to understand.

ShayLynn looked back steadily; face betraying no emotion, while sneaking glances at Stefan in her peripheral vision. He really did look weak –despite the blood, his face was pale, there were dark circles under his eyes, and his dark brown hair was dishevelled. Right at this moment, he was gazing at her with begging eyes. She focused on Elena. Elena was looking at her with a fixed gaze and stroking Stefan's dark, messy hair. She looked like a strong, young woman that was used to being the center of attention. She rolled her golden hawk eyes, and piped an agreement.

The air shimmered, ShayLynn again felt as if she had no body, and then she grew, feathers retracting, human features growing more and more defined. Even the make-up was still there. The only similar aspects were her eyes. Glowing golden-brown, her eyes fixed people with a fierce gaze.

As the sky dimmed from the unnatural light, a ShayLynn asked irritably, "What do you guys wanna talk about?" She shifted to a more comfortable position, but tensed, ready to change at moment's notice. She looked at them warily.

Stefan and Elena were both staring at her in awe, eyes wide open. Even though she felt dimly smug, ShayLynn rolled her eyes, and impatiently waved her black finger-nailed hand in front of their faces. "Helloo? You told me to change, and I did. What do you want?"

Both of them blinked, and roused themselves from their stupor. "Sorry, but that was just… beautiful." Elena shook her head and smiled slightly at her. "Back to business. Can we go back to our flat and talk? It's getting light, and if someone walks by, we won't have a good enough excuse to explain all this." She gestured to the blood splattered alleyway.

She was right. So ShayLynn nodded at her, and motioned for them to go first. No way was she going to let them attack her from behind. Elena grunted as she helped Stefan up, and he steadied himself, taking a few practice steps. Feeling confident, Stefan returned to Elena and held her hand, walking forward. ShayLynn stalked them from behind, and retrieved her precious skateboard from the shadows. _This is going to be interesting,_ she thought.

Even though she had transportation, ShayLynn kept walking. She didn't want to draw any attention to herself. Tucking a stray green strand of hair, she looked thoughtfully at the couple in front of her. They seemed pretty harmless. _Seemed, s_he reminded herself. Not everyone was what they seemed. _Take me for instance._ She thought wryly.

When they reached Stefan and Elena's flat, Elena and Stefan dumped their belongings on the floor, and sat wearily on the couch. ShayLynn dropped her skateboard cautiously on the ground, and looked around, taking in every detail that might help her escape if she needed to. After all, this was the enemies' lair. They could do anything. She sauntered towards the comfy-looking chair near the hallway and collapsed on it.

She glared at them guardedly. "So what do you want?" She asked flatly.

**It's a less exciting cliff-hanger. So to thank me or not to thank me? That is the question. XD Review please!**


	12. The Soulmate Principle

**I want to thank you guys, BeachVampire17 and AshRedfernAndMorgead, for supporting me, and reviewing for every single chapter. Thanks guys! It makes me do a happy dance. =) I won't really have time to write, cause skool's starting, and I have lots of stuff to do. BUT. I will try my hardest to write as much as I can. Thanks guys. You rock!!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Sorry. WAIT. Except for my gang (L)**

Love is in the Air, Chapter 12: The Soulmate Principle

Stefan gently asked, "Where are your parents? What are you?" At the same time as Elena asked, "How do you know about vampires?"

ShayLynn looked past her black and green bangs to glare at Stefan first, shook her head sharply and replied sarcastically, "My parents are _dead, _as I told you." She nodded at Elena. "I'm a _shapeshifter_, if you haven't noticed." She turned her glare to Elena. "And as for your question. Why do you want to know?"

Stefan and Elena exchanged a look at her tone and Stefan carefully answered, "We want to know why you think all vampires are not all of them are."

ShayLynn glared at him again, while fiddling with the chain attached to her skinny black jeans. "I know they're not all evil. I just don't trust most of the shitheads." Her thoughts drifted to Caine. "But fine. It's kind of a long story, though." She said dully.

Elena sat up straighter, and nodded in encouragement. "Okay. We have plenty of time."

ShayLynn sighed, and sat back in her chair. "Well, here it goes. It was Winter, and I was 9 years old. My cousin was 13. We were playing hide-and-seek."

Stefan raised his eyebrows at this, and ShayLynn snapped, "It was for my father's sake. To keep me from bothering him." Stefan nodded, and gestured for her to continue.

Taking a deep breath, she spoke. "I was supposed to hide, and she was supposed to, obviously, seek. But Jordana was getting tired of this game. So while I was looking for a place to hide, she just sat on my dad's bed, watched T.V. and fell asleep." ShayLynn's eyes unfocused and the memory enveloped her.

_The excited ShayLynn hid in the kitchen cupboard, next to a pile of pots and pans. She kept quiet to wait for Jordana, while her dad was busy working at a table in the living room. Sometime later, ShayLynn and her exhausted dad fell into a deep slumber. _

_When it was dark, around 11pm, ShayLynn awoke with sounds of quiet murmurings and her cramped muscles. She opened the door, just a little crack, and looked through it. What she saw, was not what a 9-year-old heart could possibly take. _

_She saw two young men in black, one with black hair, and one with brown hair. There was one shorter, but more muscular man, about 21 years old, putting tape over her father's mouth. The black-haired man said something, but ShayLynn couldn't hear him – she was too far away. _

_As she watched, he grinned, and struck at her father's neck. She looked in horror. Blood splattered to the floor. The man was…drinking her father's… blood. _Vampire._ A voice whispered inside her. _He's a v…vampire_. _

_ShayLynn, frozen to the spot, couldn't help but watch as the two vampires drank her father's blood. Her common sense kicked in at that time, and she stayed quiet, no matter what happened. ShayLynn could only hope for Jordana to keep on sleeping, not noticing what was happening._

_ Once her father was drained, the brown-haired vampire flung the corpse aside and ripped off the tape covering his mouth. _

_"What about the half-breed?" The muscular man asked, sniffing the air. _

_"I'm sorry, my furry friend. She wasn't part of our orders. We have to leave her alone, Randall. And stop sniffing." The black-haired vampire snapped. Randall sighed and then all three of them left the house._

_ShayLynn stayed frozen for another hour and then meekly crawled out of the cupboard. She stumbled to her father's pale dead body and started to sob, her soft cries echoing in the house. _

_Time passed. It could have been minutes or hours, but it passed. She got up, her face blank with shock and grief. She wanted to call the police, but she didn't know the number. She also thought of running to her next door neighbour's house, and telling them what happened. But she had used all her energy, and was tired. She couldn't form enough coherent thoughts to make a plan, and only when her eyelids started to droop, did she remember her cousin, asleep in the upstairs room._

_"Jordana!! Jordana!!! Jordaaanaaaaaa!!!" She shrieked, half sobbing and half questioning if Jordana was murdered by those terrifying men. With new adrenaline pumping through her veins, she shot upstairs, trying to find Jordana's body, at least. When she stormed out of her own room, she bumped into a tall figure. She fell back and almost bounced back, hugging the figure tightly. _

_"What happened ShayLynn? Why are you screaming, hmm? And why were you crying??!" A shocked Jordana added, as she looked into her cousin's face._

_"Daddy…daddy…" ShayLynn gulped, as new tears flowed down her cheeks._

_"Oh my god Lynnie! What happened to your dad? Is he downstairs?" ShayLynn nodded weakly, and Jordana flew down the stairs, carrying ShayLynn tightly._

_Jordana let ShayLynn take the lead once they entered the foyer. ShayLynn lead her into the kitchen, to her cupboard, and turned Jordana towards the living room. _

_Jordana could only gasp, and collapsed to the floor, as she spotted the dead body of ShayLynn's father. "How did this happen Lynnie?" Was all she could manage. How could she have slept through all of this?? Jordana felt ashamed. And then she broke down, crying. _

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_Half an hour later, Jordana and ShayLynn sat on the kitchen floor, trying not to break down again. _

_Jordana cleared her throat, and hoarsely said, "ShayLynn. Stay right here. I'm going to call the police. Okay?"_

_ShayLynn could only nod her head numbly._

_When Jordana came back, she quietly asked, "Lynnie, are you okay? The police said they're coming right now, and they'll arrive soon." She added softly._

_ShayLynn looked up at Jordana. She can't believe she lost her last close relative, her father. She vaguely even noticed when Jordana wrapped her arms around her. Without warning, the tears began to come again. But this time, Jordana was there to comfort her._

_ As the tears began to recede once again, Jordana cleared her throat and began hoarsely. "Okay ShayLynn, now back to the question. How did your father… die?" They both winced at the word "die". _

_"V…vampires… a big man…" A sad ShayLynn answered._

_Jordana sighed, and said gently, "Lynnie, you know vampires don't exist. You said a big man. So how many people were there, including the big man?"_

_ShayLynn looked indignant. "It was a v…vampire. I can see. 3 people."_

_Jordana sighed again. "Fine. Have it your way."_

ShayLynn shook herself out of the memory. She glanced at Stefan curiously, to see what he thought of his own kind now, and saw his eyes burning with anger. At what, she did not know.

Then she glanced at Elena, who was sitting with her arms crossed, lips pursed, and sympathy written all over her face.

ShayLynn carefully went on to finish. "So then the police came, and found his body, drained of all his blood. Every time they asked me what had happened, I always said that two vampires drank his blood. But they never believed me and laughed. I, on the other hand, always knew that they exist.

"Then I got taken to my damned aunt and uncle's house. They ignored me and didn't give a shit of what I did. So when I was 13, Jordana went out and rented a flat. I went with her. And that's where I'm staying now, as you can see." ShayLynn concluded moodily, while folding her arms.

There was a dark silence that crept up on them. ShayLynn continued to fiddle with the chain on her jeans, with her head down. Elena and Stefan couldn't see, but her golden eyes were filled, because of the memory. She concentrated solely on making them go away, not allowing them to spill over and let the two see weakness. Finally, Elena spoke, and her tears were hidden.

"I'm sorry ShayLynn. I understand why you hate vampires now. I know how it feels to see the closest people in your life die." Elena's voice cracked on the word _die._ ShayLynn kept her face smooth, showing no sign of emotion that was inside. She felt torn. Her new friends, the ones she just started to open up to, was a vampire and a vampire's lover.

"But Stefan… you _know_ Stefan. We've been friends for almost a month and a half." Her face was pleading.

"No. Who killed him. What was Randall?" Stefan's voice was low and throbbing with fury. "We'll kill them. We'll kill them _right now_."

ShayLynn's face was a calm, hard mask until Stefan spoke. She looked at the opposite wall, but studied his features. He really did seem angry and gentle. _You let Caine in, might as well let him in too._ A little voice said in the back of her mind. _He was feeding on pigeons. Come on. Only Daybreakers do that. He's probably good._ Finally, ShayLynn let her breath out in a hiss.

"Fine. I'll trust you guys." She spoke each word clearly. Both their faces looked relieved. "After all, we've known each other for so long." She looked away. "And I don't know who killed him." She looked directly at Stefan as she spoke. "If I did, would they still be alive?" She asked sarcastically. "Randall… most likely a werewolf. "Randall" means "shield wolf" in English." She added. Both of them mouthed, "werewolf" silently.

"Thank you… for trusting us." Elena's voice was wobbling slightly. Suddenly, she jumped at ShayLynn, and gave her a tight hug. "We have nothing else to hide." Her voice was muffled slightly. ShayLynn smirked and hugged her back carefully. She didn't want to break any bones.

When they separated, ShayLynn scrutinized them. "Before, you guys didn't know what I am. You idiots don't know about shapeshifters?!" She shouted incredulously, springing up in the process. When they both nodded, slightly startled with her outburst, ShayLynn sank back into the chair. So they probably didn't know about witches or werewolves either. Which means… they don't know about the Night World. Which means Stefan's unconsciously breaking one of the Night World rules – loving a human. She tapped the armrest of the chair thoughtfully. That means she had to break one of them too… telling it to the human… Elena.

"Okay. You assholes should come to my flat right now." ShayLynn decided. Both of them nodded, and led the way out.

ShayLynn pursed her lips. She didn't really trust them that much, so she decided to call the gang for backup. _I guess the hunting trip's cancelled._ She sighed. She led the way in the dark to her bedroom. She turned on the lights and grabbed her phone.

"You guys can watch TV, surf the net until the gang comes." She said.

"Why? You don't trust us? Do they know about vampires and shapeshifters?" Elena sounded hurt.

"No. Different reason. You'll see." She rolled her eyes. "Yes they do know about them." They nodded and turned on the TV.

ShayLynn turned on the speaker system she had behind the bed and speed-dialled Mina first. The phone rang three times before she picked up. "Hellooo?" She sounded tired. "Mina. It's me. Come to my flat right now. Emergency meeting." She hung up and speed-dialled the rest of the gang in the exact same way. She lay on the bed, but kept an eye out for the both of them. _This is going to be fun_, she thought, smirking.

Finally they all came in the door, groggy. "This better be good, Lynnie." Haruki mumbled sleepily. Only Caine looked tense and alert. "What's wrong?" He whipped at her.

"Okay, you guys all have to be awake." She creased her brow and turned off the TV and music. They all tensed at that. "Stefan and Elena, sit on the couch. You guys, the bed." She herself stood up. They all assembled each other in the right place. She noticed with approval that the gang was all in defence mode, even though they were sleepy.

"Assholes. Meet the vampire, Stefan Salvatore." She said grandly. The gang all widened their eyes. "Really?" Nanami murmured.

"Yes. Stefan's a vampire. But he hates it, and is weak. He only drinks human blood when I force him to." Elena explained.

"So he's like Daybreakers?" Mina asked ShayLynn. She nodded. "That's why I trust them. And guess what? They don't know about the Night World." The gang all looked stricken, and turned to stare incredulously at them.

"Umm, what's the Night World?" Elena asked, uncomfortable with the stares. "And Daybreakers? So you _do _have something to do with the people in the building!"

"Later. Now I want to introduce you to the gang properly." ShayLynn said. "I'm ShayLynn Creed, and I'm a shapeshifter. I shift into a great black hawk."

She approached Nanami. "This is Nanami Maru, and she's a shapeshifter. She shifts into a kitsune that's russet brown." Stefan and Elena's jaws fell open.

"This is Haruki Maru, and he's a shapeshifter. He shifts into a kitsune, too, except his colour's chocolate brown."

She slung an arm over Mina's shoulders. "This is Wilhelmina Mystral, who likes to be called Mina. She's a fighting witch." Mina grinned, closed her eyes, and cupped her hands together. A few seconds later, something in her hands appeared. It seemed to be some sort of reddish-brown flame. She opened her eyes, and the flames vanished. She winked at the two on the couch.

"Last but not least, this is Caine Jacey, who is a vampire, like Stefan." He smirked, and then his caramel eyes went more jewel-like, looking sort of like ShayLynn's. His features became more chiselled, like stone, and his lips became redder. Caine parted his mouth slightly, and two fangs emerged, curved delicately and pearly-white, indenting his lower lip. He closed his mouth, and his eyes and face returned to normal.

ShayLynn looked back at Stefan and Elena. They were both shocked still. "Wow." Elena breathed. She smirked proudly, and turned to the gang. "Sorry guys, but the hunt is off." Nanami and Haruki shrugged, but Caine pressed his lips together. "I haven't fed like that since last time. I can't live on steak blood again." He said stiffly. ShayLynn searched his eyes carefully. She could see nothing but the truth.

"You guys talk for a while. Me and Caine have to talk." She dragged Caine into her closet, and carefully shut the door. She took a deep breath, and slowly turned around. Caine was staring at her, with his hands shoved in his pockets. God, those eyes were really mesmerizing. She let her breath out in a hiss, looked down, and said slowly, "I'm sorry I cancelled the hunt." She took a deep breath and looked up. "And in return, I'll be a willing donor."

Caine's eyes widened with surprise. "But…you hate vampires. How could you be a victim of one willingly? You're my best friend. I can't do that to you. "

ShayLynn smiled a little. "You're different, Caine. I know you have the control to stop." She whispered. "And that shows how much a love you." She added teasingly as she ran her hand along the hanging shirts.

Wait, _what? _She was shocked by her own words. It had spilled out unintentionally, and somewhere deep inside her had recognized the truth of it. Ever since he had been friends with her, she kept track of everything he did. She always thought it was because he had helped her but… it wasn't just that. She always felt both of them connected deeper than words could convey. They understood each other without speaking, without the need to look at the other.

Caine chuckled. "Yeah, sure, whatever you wanna say _bastard_." He paused. "And thanks, Lynnie." He said softly.

Unconsciously, they had moved towards each other, and they were now one step apart from each other. Caine now closed the space with one stride, and held her shoulders gently. He looked down at her, not at her face, but at her throat. She closed her eyes, and breathed deeply. She felt him tilt her chin back – gently but with irresistible force, and lean down. She imagined his caramel eyes growing more metallic, sort of like her own, and his teeth lengthening to beautiful, curved fangs.

She felt a warm breath and then a quick warm swipe – his tongue licking her throat quickly. She waited, and felt the sting at her throat – closely related to a jellyfish sting – and tried desperately to keep calm. She kept waiting for the pain, but all she could feel was Caine nuzzling her neck, and holding her gently. She suddenly realized he was trying to make this better for her, because she was making a sacrifice.

All of a sudden, in a silent explosion, she was floating in white mist. Not physically, but mentally. What the hell was happening? Is this what happens when you give blood or something? She never felt anything like this before, and there was sort of a _tug_ that made her go forward, searching for _something._ Oh hell, she knew this was a bad idea. There was a sense of foreboding as she was dragged forward, and then suddenly, it was as if she burst in, she felt Caine's _mind._ It was surrounding her, and gently holding her, light as a feather's touch. She could see him, his soul, his mind; things that made him Caine Jacey. And she knew without asking that he could see hers, too. Oh, _shit._ He could see _everything._ She desperately tried to hide, or cover up her secrets, but something interrupted her.

_No! Please… don't hide from me._

It was Caine's mental voice, or just plainly his thoughts. His thoughts flowed to her, just as easily as she knew hers did. She hesitated, and let him see everything, laid out in full view.

_I enjoy you here._

_Yeah… but what's happening? Is this some shit that happens when vampires drink blood?_

She felt strangely confused and scared. She felt the irresistible pull that wanted to mix their souls together, merging like two halves of a whole… but it was terrifying. What would happen after that?

_No… I've never felt this before. But you seriously don't know? _He seemed surprised. _It's… the Soulmate Principle, idiot._

The moment he said that, ShayLynn felt realization dawn on her. Of course. They love each other. It was there all along, underneath the layers of protection she had built. She felt a happiness bubbling up inside her. But… that was impossible. Caine was her best friend… and a _vampire._

_I'm sorry._

She felt the hurt behind his words, and instantly regretted what she thought. Here, in this peaceful mist, it wasn't ShayLynn the shapeshifter, or Caine the vampire. It was more like ShayLynn and Caine the _person._ Just people of different species. It didn't matter that he was a vampire.

_No, I'm sorry. I don't think I hate vampires that much anymore…_

_ShayLynn…_ His thought drifted off.

She didn't need him to explain. She could feel his fierce protectiveness, and his undying love that was mirrored with hers. Suddenly, the mist parted, and she saw a strong silver chord. She knew without checking that one side was attached to her heart and the other was attached to Caine's. The chord was throbbing and humming, pulling both of them closer and closer, until they melded together. She sighed happily, and lapsed into a comforting silence as they became closer and closer.

Suddenly, she felt someone shouting at her from far away. She grumbled, and tried to block it out. But it was consistent, and she heard, "ShayLynn! You bitch! Wake up you idiot!" _Come on. I guess we have to wake up._

She grumbled again and dragged herself out of the state. Everything was confusing for a moment, as she blinked rapidly. It was as if she was resurfacing from deep water, or going back into her body. She didn't know where she was, what position she was in, and what time it was. Slowly, she saw Mina in front of her, arms crossed, and foot tapping impatiently. Oh right. She was in her closet, lying on top of Caine, one hand on top of his chest. Caine had his arms around her, and it seemed he had stopped drinking her blood at some point. She tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness came across her, and she slumped back to Caine's body.

"Ugh… what happened? I feel so… weak." She groaned.

She felt Caine gently help her up, and whisper, "I might've taken a bit too much. I'm sorry." She nodded distractedly, and leaned to Caine for support. "What do you want?" He snapped at Mina, who was watching with one eyebrow raised.

"Well, ShayLynn dragged you in here with no explanation, and we just tried to talk as much as we can without revealing anything. You never came back so they got worried and forced me in here. Then I saw both of you… like this." Mina answered icily.

"Oh… sorry." ShayLynn tried to steady herself, but ended up falling back to Caine.

"So what _were _you doing in here?"

"The hunt was cancelled, so ShayLynn graciously offered me a little blood because I'm getting weak." Caine said brusquely.

Mina looked startled. "But ShayLynn… you hate vampires."

"Whatever. Go away. I need to do something."

Mina scowled but left.

ShayLynn went to a cupboard that held boxes of shoes. "Lock the door." She whispered to Caine.

She opened the cupboard doors, and carefully took out all the boxes. When she felt Caine behind her, she murmured, "I need some of your blood to be stronger. Don't tell anyone about this." She crawled inside the cupboard and felt around the back. She found a thin strip of silky ribbon and pulled. The back opened, revealing an open path.

"Follow me." She whispered.

She crawled inside for a moment, and then felt a familiar woody feeling under her hands. She felt carefully around the sides, and found a switch. She flicked it open, and then there was a bright light ahead of her. She quietly crawled until she reached the other side. She stood up, and waited for Caine to come through too.

"Wow." He breathed. They were standing in ShayLynn's secret closet, the closet she hadn't used since she joined Circle Daybreak. It was a room dimly lit by the same gothic lamp on the ceiling. All the walls were padded by thick mats that made a dull thud when it got hit. Behind one of the mats, there was a hidden door. ShayLynn ripped the mat off it and opened the door. It was a smaller space, but filled with lots of wooden and silver weapons, neatly put in drawers. One side of the wall had lots of jumpsuits and boots. ShayLynn ran a hand through them, and felt the smooth skins of dead animals.

She crossed over to one of the drawers, and pulled out a simple, elegantly carved wooden dagger. "Here. I'm still weak, you know." She said.

"What _is _this ShayLynn?" Caine asked dazedly, as he took the dagger.

"Tell you later." She replied, as he slit open a small cut on his wrist. Blood welled up, cherry-red. ShayLynn took a deep breath, and Caine crossed over, handing the knife back to her. ShayLynn gripped it tightly, and swallowed.

"Come on. It's not that bad." He said softly.

ShayLynn took his wrist, closed her eyes and pressed her lips to the open wound. She felt Caine softly stroke her hair as she drank. The blood was rich and exotic, unlike the animal blood she tasted when she hunted. It burned slightly when it went down her throat. ShayLynn woozily took her lips away from his wrist a moment later, and Caine smiled at her.

"You took the perfect amount." He winked, and ShayLynn licked her lips. She watched with no surprise when his wrist slowly smoothed over. Goddamn healing powers, she thought as she wiped the dagger with a piece of cloth and put it back in its drawer.

Caine chuckled. He heard her. The connection was still there, connected by the silver chord, but invisible this moment.

"So are you going to tell me about this?" He asked curiously, gesturing around him.

"Before I met Circle Daybreak people, I was a vampire and werewolf hunter. This is my closet for those jobs. Everything here could harm a vampire or werewolf." She took out a crude weapon, a wooden sword coated with silver that had lots of secret compartments, and played with it in her hands. "So you see… you're in dangerous territory," She said quietly. Suddenly, she lunged forward, while taking off the silver cover, revealing the wood. The sword landed beside Caine's neck, pressing down menacingly. Unfortunately, he was too busy looking around to defend himself in time. ShayLynn smirked at his expression and removed the sword, once again placing the silver cover back on.

"You wouldn't kill me," He said positively.

ShayLynn raised an eyebrow. "And why not?"

"We're soulmates. You wouldn't kill your other half, would you?"

"Fair enough." She put the sword away.

"Why do you need those?" He asked, pointing to the jumpsuits and boots.

"When we shapeshift, our clothes don't just pop off and on, you know. If we wear animal skins, it works. So they're all made of dead animal skins." She replied absently.

"You know, I'd like to see you 'shift without those on," Caine suggested mischievously.

ShayLynn strode by him, unaffected. "Drop dead, Caine."

Caine just shook his head, smirking, and followed her out. "This is where I practice." ShayLynn said as she put up the mat covering the door. "We have to get out, before anyone finds out." She crawled back into the opening and turned off the light.

When they emerged out the other side, ShayLynn quickly put back the boxes and strode out the closet, with Caine following her. She cleared her throat, and everyone turned to look at her.

"Are you okay?" Haruki asked.

"I'm fine." She smirked. "What did you guys talk about?"

"Uh…" Nanami hesitated. "We actually didn't talk much. You guys weren't here, after all."

ShayLynn rolled her eyes, but smiled. "We're not that important. Anyhoo, Stefan and Elena, you guys have to pay close attention to this. It's really important." They nodded and sat up straighter.

Caine settled down on the bed, and ShayLynn rolled the computer chair to join them. "Everyone in this room, except for Elena, belong to something called…" She took a deep breath, and made the biggest betrayal of her upbringing.

"The Night World."

**Cliffie again! But you have to forgive me cause I gave you guys a really nice and long chapter! Review? *puppy dog face***


	13. The Night World

**I'm so sorry for the lateness! But I'm trying to write as much as I can and then divide them into chapters!! Sorry!! I got the part you guys wanted to hear after.**

**Disclaimer: I own nuttin' except for my gang (y)**

Love is in the Air, Chapter 13: The Night World

_Caine settled down on the bed, and ShayLynn rolled the computer chair to join them. "Everyone in this room, except for Elena, belong to something called…" She took a deep breath, and made the biggest betrayal of her upbringing._

_"The Night World."_

The phrase hung over the group for a while, before anyone dared to break the silence. Elena and Stefan had their eyes as big as saucers, and the gang just looked appalled that ShayLynn actually dared to break the law. ShayLynn smirked, thinking she was a _real_ bad-ass, now that she has broken the law.

"The Night World is basically a secret society that includes both kinds of vampires, both kinds of witches, shapeshifters and werewolves. The first kind of vampire, is the lamia. They are the kind of vampires that are _born_ a vampire, can grow up and have kids. The second kind is the made vampires. They're usually under twenty, because if the humans are older, they just burn out and die from the process. They can't age nor have children, like Caine.

"The first kind of witch is the ones that know their heritage. The second kind doesn't know about their powers, but have dreams, hunches and all that crap. The lost witches. Humans call them _psychics._

"The Night People, they're everywhere, all scattered around this shitty world. Your best friend, or crush or teacher could be one." She paused to grin ironically. "The reason why it's so mysterious is because there are two laws that everyone follows. Number 1: No Night Person is allowed to tell a human about the Night World. We're breaking that one right now. Number 2: No Night Person is allowed to fall in love with a human. Stefan broke that one ages ago. Las Vegas is basically the stronghold, where the most powerful people live, so there's more Night People here. And that's the basics. Anyhoo, Mina, tell them about the history of vampires and witches." She walked over to Mina, gave her a little push, and sat in Mina's spot. Caine threaded his fingers through hers, and squeezed. ShayLynn smiled, and returned the pressure.

Mina had been fiddling with her fingers; she didn't look as if she wanted to break the law too. Finally, she took a deep breath. "There was once a woman named Hecate Witch-Queen. She had two witch daughters, Maya and Hellewise. In those days, witches were called Hearth-Women. Anyway, Hecate died, and the two daughters became the leaders of the tribe. But Maya didn't want to share the leadership with her sister, and she also wanted to be immortal. So she looked for a spell, anything, that could make her like that. Hellewise even helped her. Finally, they found it. But it was too horrible, so Hellewise backed out. Maya didn't. She did the spell, which was to drink the blood of all the babies in her tribe. So she became immortal. The price was, she had to drink blood everyday to continue living on. That means, she became the first vampire, the first of the lamia.

"There was a love triangle with Hellewise, Maya, and a guy called Theorn, right now, he's called Thierry. Anyway, Maya wanted a companion, so she exchanged blood with him by force, and he became the first _made_ vampire. Maya wanted everyone to be like her, so she bit as many people as she could.

"Hellewise wanted it to stop. So she challenged Maya to a single-combat, even though she knew vampires were stronger. Eventually, Hellewise won, and drove Maya and her son called Red Fern out of the witch clan. Hellewise died, but her tribe was in peace. The descendents of Hellewise are witches, and descendents of Maya are vampires." Mina concluded. She stood up, and joined the gang on the bed.

"That's basically it. Any questions?" ShayLynn asked, crossing her arms.

"What about the history of shapeshifters? You didn't tell us that." Elena said dazedly.

ShayLynn sighed as she stood up. Maybe she shouldn't have asked. She paced around the room agitatedly, like a caged animal, instead of sitting on the chair. "It's kind of disgusting. Be prepared." She took a deep breath. "When humans were still idiots and lived in caves, the shapeshifters ruled the world. They treated humans kind of like humans treat cattle because the more flesh and crap they ate from humans, they got stronger. There were dragons then. Dragons were immortal, and could change shape into whatever they wanted. They made the shapeshifters the highest level, you could say. They had lots of Power, and were merciless. Witches weren't even a trouble to them." She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"What about vampires? Aren't' they stronger?" Elena looked hopeful.

"This was when Hecate was still alive, so Maya didn't do the spell yet." Nanami answered.

"Okay… then what happened?"

"Mina, you should tell it. You're a witch, after all."

Mina shakily stood up, and collapsed on the chair. ShayLynn continued to pace. "Well, Hecate organized this big fight, where the witches would fight the shapeshifters. It was a really big one, bigger than the human World Wars." She whispered. "I guess the shapeshifters knew they were gonna lose, so the dragons… they basically set the world on fire, to destroy it, cause they couldn't have it. But it didn't work. The witches put the dragons to sleep, and buried them deep into the ground."

ShayLynn came to a stop behind the chair. She put her hands on the back of the chair and leaned over, gold eyes flaming. "The witches were really nice, so they let the youngest dragon live, the stupid dragon princess, and guided her so she wasn't as brutal. Since then, the shapeshifters were… sort of the _lowest_ in the society."

Mina craned her neck to smile grimly at ShayLynn. "But I think they're all secretly terrified of the shapeshifters."

ShayLynn smirked, and straightened up. She put one hand on her hip, and dully asked, "Anything else?"

Elena looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Oh! I know. Do those black flowers have anything to do with the Night World?"

"Oh yea. We were so freaked when you asked before." Nanami giggled. "Everyone was like, 'Ohmygod. Ohmygod. What should we say? What should we say?' It was really funny."

"The black flowers are basically a way of recognizing other Night People. The flower for made vampires are roses. Witches, dahlias. Shapeshifters, lilies. Werewolves, foxglove. Get it?"

Elena nodded slowly. She squared her shoulders and looked at ShayLynn directly. ShayLynn stared, or more of glared back. It wouldn't hurt to scare the girl a little would it? She thought mischievously. No, it wouldn't. ShayLynn focused on letting most of her animal instincts kick in, making her face look fierce and deadly. She held on to the glare, and imagined her eyes growing glassy, and as sharp as broken glass. Her face taking on a violent look. She turned her attention back to Elena, and saw the girl's lips pressed in a thin line, and her eyes giving away her fear. ShayLynn nearly cracked up in victory, but there was a presence in her head. It felt like a deadly warm flame burning. Caine.

_Stop scaring her, bitch. You're wasting time here, when we could be alone…_ He sounded amused, but annoyed at the same time. His thought drifted to what had happened in the closet.

ShayLynn sighed mentally, but sucked her animal instinct back in. She knew she looked like the normal, playful person again. Elena was looking at her with terror, but she swallowed and asked calmly, "Can you tell me the truth about the Daybreakers? About the battle in San Francisco? About Thierry, Ash, Quinn, Rashel, James, Keller, Galen, Winnie, and…" She looked at Stefan for help.

"Nissa." He said helpfully.

The gang and ShayLynn exchanged a glance. They already knew so much. ShayLynn started pacing. Should she tell them? Oh, what the hell. Why not. She took a deep breath.

"The Circles are technically only for witches. There were originally only two Circles, Circle Twilight and Circle Midnight. Circle Twilight was for the less bad witches, and Circle Midnight was obviously for the worse. Now, there's a Circle Daybreak for Night People who want to, let's say make friends with humans _while_ showing their true self. Like how we are right now. Living in peace." She paused in front of them all and stared at Stefan and Elena steadily. She didn't even glare. Her voice turned as gentle as she could manage. "I don't know how to put this… but… basically…" She took a deep breath, looking away. She looked back sharply at them.

"Stefan and Elena. The world is ending."

Both of them sucked in a deep breath, and managed to keep in most of their laughter. But a few escaped. The whole gang had looked away after ShayLynn spoke, but now, they all snapped their attention back to the couple on the couch.

"What's so funny?" Caine and ShayLynn had whipped, their voices low and hard. Haruki had jumped up, growling, with his teeth bared, eyes wild. Nanami and Mina were looking incredulously at them.

When Elena and Stefan saw their reaction, they stopped in mid-laugh and widened their eyes. Stefan made a choking noise in his throat.

"You mean… you're serious?" Elena squeaked.

The gang just glared.

"That's… it's impossible." She spluttered. "The world can't _end._ It just can't." Oh god, she's hysterical, she thought. "Everything's fine right now! There's not even a sign or any – ahh!" Haruki had rolled his eyes, grabbed Elena and clapped a hand over her mouth to shut her up.

"Nicely done." Caine punched Haruki's arm approvingly.

"Thanks. Sorry girl, but you have to _shut up._" Haruki said quietly. Elena nodded, and he let go.

"Elena, have you noticed the weather getting warmer than usual or colder than usual? Have you noticed the natural disasters getting crazier? The animals attacking people for no reason? New diseases popping up everywhere that are deadlier than the ones before?" She asked grimly, without breathing. "The Old Powers, magic that's been asleep for goddess-knows-how-long are showing signs. The Night People are getting stronger." ShayLynn hesitated and idly went to Caine. "Lots of Night People are finding their soulmates." She paused to give a small smile to Caine as he held her hand.

"Soulmates? Seriously?" Stefan asked doubtfully. "How do you know the person is your soulmate?"

"It's said that every Night Person has one other half somewhere out there. The one true love." Haruki lectured as Caine walked behind ShayLynn. "But it's really rare to find them," Caine said quietly. ShayLynn's arms and legs tingled pleasantly. "Sometimes, when you touch them, it's sort of like an electric shock that feels good. Sometimes, when you kiss them or something, both minds sort of join together, or one goes into the other mind, and you see this silver chord that attaches you to them. Or sometimes, you just _know._" ShayLynn felt Caine put an arm around her shoulders.

_I always knew, _he whispered in her mind.

ShayLynn tried to ignore her heart, which was throbbing in her chest. "_Continuing with the point._ The world is ending, and the Old Powers are waking up. According to some prophecies that I don't effing remember, there are four Wild Powers that can help save the human era. They all have this blue fire that's sort of like Mina's except it's much more powerful.

"Here's the thing, though. The Night World Council, they're seriously tired of hiding from humans, so they _want_ the world to end, cause they think they can survive it."

"But the witches don't like it," Mina cut in. "So they left the Night World and joined Circle Daybreak, to help fight the darkness."

ShayLynn started to feel restless. _Need… to …. Get… out… _She started to pace again, hoping it would satisfy the need.

"So now there are really only two sides." Mina was explaining. "Circle Daybreak and the Night World Council. _I_ think Daybreakers are going to win, cause they already have 3 Wild Powers. Plus, the Witch Child, Iliana Harman, became blood sisters with the shapeshifter Rakasha Keller, so shapeshifters are on that side." Mina considered for a moment. "But then again, the other side has dragons and then there's that prophecy. 'One less and darkness triumphs.'" She quoted. "That means without all 4 Wild Powers, darkness with win and the human race would get wiped out," She added when she saw Elena's lost look.

_Out… Need…Out!..._

"But who are the people we heard about?" Elena asked, not noticing ShayLynn's state.

ShayLynn's rounds were getting quicker and quicker; her hands were twitching and tapping, as if she were following some unheard beat. _Need… I need… Out… _

"They're agents that work for Circle Daybreak. Except for Lord Thierry, of course. He's the leader, along with his soulmate, Lady Hannah. He's the same Thierry… the Thierry that was the first made vampire." Haruki replied. He glanced at ShayLynn with a concerned look on his face. But Elena once again, didn't notice.

"What about you guys?"

"We're agents of Circle Daybreak too. Right now, we're undercover – we're supposed to be ignorant to what happening and if we hear anything new, we tell Thierry or Hannah." Nanami studied her nails modestly. "Of course, we know how to fight properly. But we have to fight only when it's necessary."

Everyone lapsed into a silence after that. ShayLynn continued to pace rapidly. Her feverish eyes were narrowed in concentration, trying to calm down. She felt Caine silently watching her worriedly, knowing exactly what she was feeling inside.

"I have to go." She said abruptly, walking briskly into the closet. She felt Caine closely behind her, and growled, "Lock the door," while throwing shoeboxes out of a cupboard. She yanked the secret door open and shoved herself in. She knew Caine was following her silently, cleaning up after her. She tumbled out the opening and ripped the mat off the door, storming inside the secret closet. _Need…. Out… Need… Must…_

If Caine followed her in, she would kill him, soulmate or not, she thought absently. Quickly stripping off her clothes and putting on a jumpsuit and a pair of boots, there was only one thought running in her mind. _Need… to… go… out… Need… outside… fresh air… wind… __**Need…**_

She shot past Caine and out the passageway without even pausing to admire how he didn't follow her, and knew what she was thinking without the need to ask. She gave herself a once-over in the mirror and tied her hair up in a high ponytail. _Need… must…. Out… sun… Now…_

"Alone?" He asked, even thought he knew the answer.

ShayLynn nodded curtly and strode to the wispy maroon curtains, yanking them open. Sunlight from the rising sun streamed in, and she felt Caine's power weakening. Whatever. He'll live. _Need… Out… Go… _

For once, she didn't even care that the others were looking at her wear admiringly, the way the jumpsuit clung to her like a second skin, and showed off all her muscles and curves. Her breathing quickened as anticipation swarmed over her and opened the glass door, stepping out. In one smooth motion, she gripped the safety rail, climbed on it and jumped off gracefully.

_Ahhh… freedom…_

The cool wind blew onto her face and body, through her hair, and calmed her. She allowed herself a quick smirk before 'shifting into the fierce flying predator she loved.

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Caine watched as ShayLynn soared up high, as if she wanted to touch the rising summer sun. Watched as she dipped back down to the trees and out of sight. He sighed internally. She looked so fierce… so beautiful when she changed. A living goddess.

He weakly turned from the bright window to look at the group. The sunlight inhabited some of his powers, and he felt tired. Everyone was either staring after ShayLynn or looking at Caine confusedly. He sighed internally again when he realized he had to explain.

"Sorry. She was getting really cramped up in here. She'll be back soon." He said quietly while shutting the drapes. He felt his energy level rise. Ahh… Much better. Haruki and Nanami nodded, understanding. They were, after all, shapeshifters too, so they knew how it felt. Elena and Stefan looked as if they were trying to understand. Mina was looking at him with an odd look on her face, wise and accepting.

"What are you staring at, retard?" He snapped quietly. It was making him uncomfortable.

"Nothing." Mina shook her head, but the look was still on her face.

"No, really. What's up?" Stefan asked gently.

"I don't really want to say it without Lynnie here…"

"Why does ShayLynn always have to be here?!" Elena exploded.

The gang exchanged an amused glance. They all had the inappropriate impulse to laugh. The girl seemed almost… jealous of ShayLynn. And she should be, Caine thought proudly. ShayLynn was fierce, strong, beautiful and brave. The only living thing in his life. The colour in the black and white palette.

"Because she's ShayLynn." He answered quietly. The gang all nodded in agreement. He noticed Mina with the strange look again.

"Please? Please, can you tell?"

Mina sighed. "I…" She grinned at everyone. "I don't know how nobody else noticed. ShayLynn and Caine…" She trailed off.

Caine started to breathe in quiet short gasps. No, she can't tell. If she does, the gang would think of them differently. Please no, Goddess, please no…

"…they're soulmates." Mina said softly, looking at Caine.

_Shit._

There was a silence, and then laughter. Everyone went up to him to slap, hug or punch him appreciatively. Caine could only return the gestures numbly.

"That's great, man." Haruki beamed.

"You've been holding out on us," Nanami accused.

Caine just felt surprised. How did Mina know? Did she catch us doing something that friends wouldn't do? He realized the important thing, the relationship between him, the gang and ShayLynn would be different, now that they knew. Damn.

"Mina, you could be a hell of a detective. But tell us, the retards, how that great mind of yours figured it out." A dry voice said at the window.

ShayLynn stepped into the room, shaking her hair out. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes wild from the flight, but she was breathing calmly. The gang knew that despite the sarcastic tone, she was impressed.

"Mina smirked. "Bitch," she muttered, earning a smirk from everyone. "Anyways, I know because… I'm smart." Her eyes gleamed as she announced this.

"No, really." Elena glared. That girl's starting to copy ShayLynn, Caine thought, amused. Apparently he wasn't the only one who thought that.

"Nice glare, Elena. Where did you learn it from?" Nanami sneered teasingly.

Elena looked hurt, but kept the glare.

"Shut up! Let the skanky witch talk," ShayLynn ordered. Her arms were crossed, and her mouth was pursed thoughtfully. Caine crossed his own arms and shifted his bangs so they covered one eye, hiding it from everyone. He just wished that he could curl up in a hole and die.

Mina was grinning before, but now turned serious. "I know…" Her voice was soft and full of wonder. "I know by the way they look at each other." Caine shot a surprised look at ShayLynn, and saw she was doing the same thing. "By the way they talk about each other. There's something in their eyes that say, 'I've found my soulmate!'"

Everyone started to peer at their eyes, trying to see the difference. Caine glared at them all; sure that ShayLynn was doing the same. "The next shithead that stares at us will die a slow, painful death," ShayLynn and Caine growled through clenched teeth. They exchanged a surprised glance. This soulmate connection was getting weird. Everyone thought so too. Their eyes bugged out. Caine resisted the urge to rip any out of their sockets.

Everyone was silent for a while. Caine and ShayLynn looked at each other's eyes from across the room. They were so golden brown… so full of excitement and energy… and right now it was so soft and loving. A look that Caine knew that was reserved for him and him only.

_ShayLynn, _he thought, sending it in her head. They would always be connected by that silver chord in their heart. Invisible, but still there. He could feel it shortening, trying to pull them together, but he fought it. He really didn't want their first kiss to have an audience. Especially _this_ audience.

_Caine. _He heard her through the connection. The way she said his name, with such love gave him shudders. He didn't remember anyone doing that, not even his parents, because they died a long time ago, killed by a vampire hunter. The silence was broken by Elena, that _bitch_. This time, he called her a bitch, not in a friendly way, but more of the insulting way. He respected her because she was ShayLynn's friend, but she was getting really annoying.

"Tell us more about Circle Daybreak," she said.

"What do you want to know?" ShayLynn snapped. She sounded as annoyed as he felt.

"I don't know…" Elena said unhappily. "But we've been talking, and we want to join Circle Daybreak."

"You want to become damned Daybreakers?" ShayLynn raised an eyebrow.

"That's what Rashel calls us," Nanami murmured.

ShayLynn ignored her. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." Stefan nodded.

"I guess you could..." Mina lifted one shoulder and let it drop. "But you guys will have to meet Lord Thierry and Lady Hannah."

ShayLynn nodded in agreement and strode over to the shelf behind her bed. She took the i-phone and dialled a number, while pacing around again. Caine kept his face expressionless but he groaned internally. Why does this _girl_ want to become a Goddess-damn Daybreaker? _Because she's in love with Stefan, _a little voice in the back of his mind told him sweetly.

"Yo. It's ShayLynn. I got two wannabe-Daybreakers here. Kay. See ya." She turned from the window. "Let's go." She paused, looking Elena over. "Do you idiots want to change?" she asked sarcastically.

Elena looked down too. "Yeah," she answered sheepishly.

ShayLynn smirked. "Move your asses."

Caine felt like banging his head against the wall.

**Yeah!!! Review pwetty pweeaase??**


	14. Circle Daybreak

**Ladeda! It's kinda short to me buut whatever!**

**Disclaimer: yea. I don't own anyone but my gang =)**

Love is in the Air, Chapter 14: Circle Daybreak

Elena and Stefan walked back into ShayLynn's room. The gang was on the bed, their heads crowded together, whispering and mumbling. She could catch words like, 'stupid', 'Daybreaker' and 'bad idea'.

They - Elena and Stefan - had just changed into more sophisticated clothes, because from what she had heard, Lord Thierry and Lady Hannah sounded like royalty. She was wearing a white dress shirt tucked in silky black dress pants. The top two buttons were undone. In her ears were the biggest hoop earrings she owned, and her hair was in a low ponytail. She had put on a little make up and worn high heels here.

Stefan was wearing a blue dress shirt with the ends out and over normal jeans ...because Elena had forced him to. He had worn sneakers here, and kept his tousled hair.

Elena cleared her throat. ShayLynn looked up and straightened up.

"Good. You're back," she said dryly.

ShayLynn wasn't wearing the sleek jumpsuit anymore; she changed back to her stylish clothes. She was wearing black skinny jeans with sort of a half black mini-skirt, 2 different styled belts, a black tank top with a red cross in the middle, her usual choker and long black fingerless gloves that reached over her elbows. Her makeup looked freshly applied – in fact all the girls' did – and her hair was woven into a French braid. All in all, Elena was jealous. She was never going to look the best if ShayLynn were in the room.

"Are you losers ready?" ShayLynn crossed her arms and surveyed the room. Elena nodded. She was excited to see Lord Thierry, because he had been alive for so long.

"We're going by car," ShayLynn declared. "Stefan, you gotta be alert the whole time." She grinned impishly. "We'll be breaking all the speed limits so you hafta be able to outrun the retarded police." Stefan nodded solemnly.

At this moment, a sleepy Jordana appeared in the doorway dressed in a tank top and sweat pants. "What are you guys doing?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Visiting Circle Daybreak," ShayLynn replied, while grabbing a black shoulder bag and stuffing things in it.

Jordana yawned. "They know?"

"Mmhmm. Stefan's a vampire."

"Thought so. Cause he likes his steak rare." She smiled sleepily as Stefan chuckled. "Well have fun." Then she shuffled out the door.

ShayLynn pulled the bag over her shoulder and smirked. "Let's kick some shitty police ass."

Elena grinned like the others and walked out.

"Are you excited?" She whispered to Stefan.

"Yes. But I still can't believe it. The world is ending."

Elena frowned. She didn't want to think about that part. It was too scary and mind-boggling. "Let's not talk about that right now." She paused and grinned. "I can't wait for you to break the speed limit. You've never done that before. It's definitely going in the letter to Bonnie, Meredith and Matt." She pressed her lips together. Crap. She shouldn't have said that. She still missed them a lot, and it hurt to think about them.

"Well be prepared," Stefan said finally, in a dry voice. To ShayLynn, he said, "We'll be following you."

ShayLynn nodded. "Try to keep up." She winked and strode out the front door. "Meet us at the start of the road," she added over her shoulder.

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Thierry lived in a gigantic mansion.

It was at least seven stories tall and had palm trees framing the driveway.

It was magnificent. Beautiful. Incredible.

As Elena followed everyone to the double doors in a daze, she noticed the lawn full of roses. To be exact, black roses. Dimly, she remembered the gang lecturing about symbols of Night People. _The black flowers are basically a way of recognizing other Night People. The flower for made vampires are roses. Witches, dahlias. Shapeshifters, lilies. Werewolves, foxglove._

_The flower for made vampires are roses._

Elena was absolutely confident that the roses were spray painted black for this purpose so the other Night People can recognize him. When her gaze returned to ShayLynn, she was wearing the trademark smirk.

"It's so _awesome_, right?" ShayLynn said mockingly.

Stefan glanced at Elena. "Yes. We haven't seen anything like it," he answered politely.

ShayLynn just held on to the smirk and turned to the door. It had a beautifully painted black rose, with all the lighting and shadows. No doubt as a recognition symbol again. She watched as ShayLynn knocked three times on the door instead of ringing the doorbell. The door opened smoothly to reveal a young man looking down, in a tuxedo with a Bluetooth clipped to his ear. He had his hair in a ponytail and black glasses.

"How may I –" He looked up. "Oh, ShayLynn. Come on in," he said warily. He had a slight foreign accent that Elena couldn't place.

"Sup Nilsson." She strode in comfortably. "I got the wannabe Daybreakers here," she said as Elena cautiously followed her. Nilsson nodded at her as she passed.

"Hello," he said politely.

Elena smiled at him before looking around her in surprise. Where did the rest of the gang go? Nilsson started to shut the door. Suddenly, a black sneaker jammed the door.

"You forgot about _us,_" Haruki sneered from outside.

Nilsson opened the door indifferently and nodded to each one of them as they passed. "Haruki. Nanami. Mina. Caine. I didn't see you people outside," he said pointedly.

Mina waved a hand. "Yeah, we were hiding."

"Whatever. Where are the losers?" ShayLynn asked impatiently before Nilsson could reply.

"They are all in the living room," he answered.

"Thanks, man." ShayLynn motioned them to follow her.

They went through many hallways and up at least two flights of stairs before coming to a stop beside a random door. Or so Elena thought. ShayLynn knocked on the door.

"Come in," a voice said. Elena recognized the commanding tone immediately. She turned to Stefan and mouthed, _Thierry._ He nodded and grinned. ShayLynn kicked open the door and strode in confidently. The gang followed, and Elena tried to imitate her.

"Sup guys." Elena could hear the smirk in her voice. "These are the idiots."

Elena took a deep breath and looked up. She widened her eyes and nearly took a step back. There were so_ many_ people in the room. Elena smiled distractedly while counting. There were _fourteen _people in the room. Fourteen. And most of them were rather… good looking. She watched the gang take their place on the couch, next to a dark haired girl with blazing green eyes. The girl whispered something in ShayLynn's ear, and she smirked, looking directly at Elena. She flushed, wondering what they were possibly talking about. A white-blond haired boy that looked about her age with dark eyes stood up. He walked towards Elena and held out a hand.

"Hello. I'm Thierry. Both of you wish to join Circle Daybreak?" He asked gently.

Elena took his hand and shook it. Oh. Okay. Not her age at all. She cleared her throat and spoke. "Yes. I'm Elena Gilbert and he's Stefan Salvatore. Stefan's a vampire, and I'm still a human. We don't know how to fight, so we don't know how we can help you." She explained.

"I trust ShayLynn has filled you in everything?" He motioned for her to sit on the loveseat next to him.

"No, duh. Of course I have. They would still be clueless losers if not." ShayLynn's sarcastic voice floated to where a surprised Elena was sitting. If they were royalty, then ShayLynn shouldn't speak to him like that. But it seemed that Thierry didn't mind.

"Excellent. I think I should introduce you to the people here. They're all fighters, except for Hannah." He lovingly motioned to a girl with straight blond hair, clear gray eyes and… a pale pink birthmark below her cheekbone. It looked as if a rose petal had been placed there and removed, leaving behind a mark.

"Hello. I'm Hannah Snow in this life, and I'm Thierry's soulmate." She looked at Elena with knowing eyes and added, "I'm an Old Soul. I reincarnate."

Elena was speechless. So that was real too. She forced a startled smile, and nodded.

Thierry continued. He moved on to a girl with wavy red hair and silvery-blue eyes. "This is Jez Redfern. She's half human half vampire and one of the Wild Powers. Her full name is Jezebel, and she hates it when people call her that."

"Just like Mina does when people call her _Wilhelmina_." ShayLynn added, emphasising the full name. She earned a jab in the ribs from Mina.

Thierry continued, ignoring them. "Her soulmate is Morgead Blackthorn. He's a full vampire." His eyes were burning green emeralds, and his dark hair was messy, uncared for. Both of them nodded at Elena, and Jez smiled slightly.

"This is Galen Drache, son of the First House of Shapeshifters, technically meaning royalty."

"He shapeshiftes to a leopard, because he learned his soulmate's shape," Haruki teased as Thierry gestured to a boy with golden hair and gentle greenish-gold eyes. He had the look of a classic prince in any story. Elena widened her eyes. He had the gentle golden glow around him, just like the way she imagined his voice was like. As if to prove it to her, he ignored Haruki and spoke. "Hello Elena. Hello Stefan."

"His soulmate is the fierce Raksha Keller, also a shapeshifter. She turns to a panther." Theirry was looking at a girl, probably older than ShayLynn, that had cool gray eyes, darker than Hannah's, and long black hair that went up to her hips. Elena felt a sense of respect like she did for ShayLynn when she saw her. Raksha seemed to have some sort of animal-like qualities that made it seem obvious when you knew she was a shapeshifter.

"Actually I go by the name Keller," The girl said sharply. It wasn't a snap exactly, but it was the voice of someone who was used to giving commands. It held a different tone from anyone in the room.

"Hi Keller," she and Stefan chorused.

"This is one of ShayLynn's best friends, aside from her gang, Rashel Jordan. She's Keller's long-lost human sister and a vampire hunter." Thierry was motioning to another tall black haired girl. But her hair was tied up with some sort of Japanese ribbon and her eyes were a blazing green.

Rashel nodded at them coolly. "I only hunt the bad ones." She sounded vaguely annoyed. Elena once again felt respect for her. This girl seemed like she had total control of her body.

"And her soulmate is John Quinn. He's a former bad vampire, but Rashel changed his ways," Thierry smiled.

John Quinn gave Thierry such a ferocious black look, that Elena half expected him to melt on the spot.

"Call him Quinn if you value your life," a boy with ash-blond hair and light blue eyes said. Quinn turned his glare onto that him. But the boy didn't seem to flinch or react in anyway. He just rolled his hazel eyes. Wait, what? Elena double checked. She was pretty sure his eyes were blue… but they were purple now. And she was sure they were hazel before… huh?

"This is Ash Redfern, a lamia." Thierry said. He motioned to the lanky boy with ash-blond hair and… eyes that were now pink. She thought he had a strange resemblance of a lazy cat. Noticing Elena's confused stare, Thierry added, "Yes. His eyes change colours according to his mood." To prove it, the eyes turned purple again. Weird. "He's got his genes from Maya. She has the same eyes." Elena nodded.

"Be careful of him," Quinn warned mockingly. "He's sort of a Don Juan. Watch out."

"Shut up Quinn," Ash said idly with green eyes.

"Anyway, he was one, but changed for his soulmate, Mary-Lynnette Carter." Thierry continued.

A girl with dark shiny hair that reached above her hips, a tan face that was lighter than ShayLynn's and matching dark eyes smiled at her and Stefan kindly. "Hi. I'm still human, because I didn't let Ash change me. Umm…" She hesitated. "Do any of you enjoy star watching?" She leaned into Ash, who put his arm around her. His eyes were a warm and loving brown.

Elena spoke for both of them. "No, we've never tried. Is it interesting?"

Mary-Lynnette nodded. "Very. Maybe I can show both of you sometime?"

Elena grinned. "Sure." Stefan nodded too. She started to like this girl. She seemed just as normal as her, just as weak as her in this mansion of the supernatural.

"Mary-Lynnette is_ not_ normal," Ash muttered, narrowing his eyes at the ground.

Elena widened her eyes fractionally as Quinn snorted. "Whatever." Rashel shoved him off the couch.

"Ow."

Thierry shook his head, amused, and moved on to two people behind the couch. "This is Winfrith Arlin. She's like Mina, a fighting witch. A member of Keller's team." This short girl had strawberry blond hair and a sweet face. She lifted up her hand a wiggled her fingers. "Unity. Call me Winnie. My last name's actually "Arm-of-Lightening" but it's shortened." She grinned.

Stefan and Elena nodded hello. She guessed "Unity" was some sort of greeting.

"It is," Thierry murmured. "It's a greeting for witches only, mainly."

Ah. Okay. Thierry moved on.

"And this is Nissa Johnson, a vampire. She's also in Keller's team." Nissa had mink coloured hair that reached up to her chin and cool eyes that were a few shades darker than her hair. Like all the vampires in the room, she had a pale skin tone. She nodded to them curtly.

Elena and Stefan smiled at her while Thierry sat back down.

"That's basically it."

Elena sank into the couch. Wow. These were the same people she had overheard in the room, except it was missing James. But Jez and Morgead were new additions. Were there more?

"Um… Elena?" The boy with changing eyes asked. Ash.

"Yea?"

"I didn't tell you but… we've met before." He grinned lazily and glanced in the direction of Quinn and Rashel.

Elena frowned. How? She'd never seen him before. And she would never forget him if she ever saw him. There was no way they could've met.

"We've met before too," Quinn said with his fathomless black eyes.

"We have too." Rashel gave Elena a dry smile. "You just didn't know."

Elena just continued to frown.

"How?" Stefan asked for her curiously.

"We were walking back from a Circle Daybreak meeting..." Quinn said, pulling Rashel closer to him.

"'We' as in Quinn, Rashel and I," Ash clarified.

"_We_ were walking back," Quinn pressed on, ignoring Ash. "And he" Quinn jerked his head towards Ash. "And he heard some shouting and yelling."

Elena started to have a floaty feeling. Dismayed, grateful and hopeful all at the same time.

"We kept quiet in the beginning because we thought it was some kind of random shouting, like there always is here," Rashel said disgustedly.

"But then they were getting quieter, as if the person was getting weaker." Quinn tapped one finger on Rashel's shoulder thoughtfully.

The floating feeling got stronger.

"So Ash started to sprint to the source, because he promised to right his wrongs," he recited. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mary-Lynnette blush. Hmm. Something to do with it?

"We had to follow. When we reached there, Ash was tackling a vampire. There was a werewolf holding a girl." Rashel said grimly. "Quinn went to help Ash, obviously. And I took care of the werewolf." She said coolly.

Elena felt herself float out, as if she had wings. Sunlight and knowledge hit her like a slap. So these were the people. She had a new respect for Rashel and Quinn, and as for Ash, she no longer thought of him as a cat. More like a fierce lion, or tiger. But still lazy.

"Ash carried the girl towards the closest Daybreaker house, which happened to be ShayLynn's." Quinn nodded at ShayLynn.

"Along the way, someone _skateboarded_ behind us _in the middle of the night._" Ash rolled his now-deep blue eyes, earning a snort from ShayLynn. "She saw the girl and told us she knew where the girl lived," he continued. "So we followed her and we put the girl at the door."

"Then I rang the doorbell and everyone ran away," ShayLynn smirked. "Ash screamed like a girl."

"Did not," Ash protested.

"Did too," Quinn smiled-the smile was beautiful, but slightly nerve-racking, as if he were some evil genius plotting to take over the world.

"Did not," Ash argued.

They continued like that for a while, but Elena's mind was on other things. Wow. So she was saved by Daybreakers. She nodded inwardly. Yes. She should help in any way to repay them for that.

"Did not!"

"Did _too._" A short girl with coppery red hair and metallic green eyes stood in the doorway. Her arms were crossed, and her mouth was quirked up in a smirk. Beside her was a boy with messy brown hair and warm gray eyes. His mouth was quirked up in a smirk too. Both of them had a predator-like grace and their skin was pale white. Vampries.

"And how would _you_ know, Poppy?" Ash folded his arms around his chest. His eyes were now black, like Quinn's.

"Because I just _know_." The girl called Poppy pranced to Winnie. "Right Jamie?"

"Right." The boy replied. His eyes wandered across the room, skipping Elena and Stefan. They stopped at Rashel and then went back to the two of them.

"They're new _damned _Daybreakers, Stefan and Elena." ShayLynn explained mischievously. Elena noticed Rashel raise an eyebrow and smirk. Ah, so it was true. ShayLynn copied the "damned" part from Rashel. "Guys, it's time that you've met this vampire dude, James Rasmussen. He's a lamia and a Redfern on his mother's side."

Oh. Okay. That makes the voices all there. "Hi James," Stefan said. Elena just nodded politely. James grinned and it was impossible for her to smile back. He held out a hand. "Hello Elena. Nice to meet you. Welcome to Circle Daybreak." His gray eyes were warm and inviting. Elena took the hand. His hand was cool and the grip was as firm as ShayLynn's. James leaned over to Stefan and did the same. "Hello and Welcome to Circle Daybreak."

"And that pixie is Poppy North, James' friken soulmate. She's a vampire-witch cross." ShayLynn said lazily, while yawning. This caused Elena and Stefan to yawn, which caused Thierry to yawn, which caused Hannah to yawn, which caused everyone else to yawn.

"All your fault Lynnie," Nanami mumbled.

ShayLynn flicked her hand lazily at her.

"Hi. I'm actually a made vampire by Jamie cause I was dying from cancer." She made a face. Her voice was rather high and happy.

"Soulmates. And Poppy's the only one allowed to call him _Jamie_," Hannah explained with a glint in her eye.

From the other side of the room, James looked like he wanted to growl at the girl. But he was restraining himself. Thierry turned to curiously eye Stefan.

"How do you not know about the Night World? All supernatural creatures should," he said.

Everyone also turned to stare at him too. Elena knew how he must be feeling, so she just stared back at them.

"My creator didn't tell me about this. Actually, I don't think you got all of them. My brother, Damon, he doesn't know either." He said in that soft voice of his.

"Did someone say my name?" A handsome young man was perched lazily on the window frame with his arms crossed. His straight dark hair was neat and his eyes were amused. Black, amused, bottomless pits. He folded his arms on his trademark black leather jacket.

Damon.

**Teehee. I'm actually a fan of Damon, instead of Stefan. Soo there he is! And tell me how I did with the characters. Review??**


	15. Dangerous and Sexy

**I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, but there was so much unusual homework. Anyhoo, here's the chapter! I hope you guys likey. =)**

**Disclaimer: I own nuttin.**

Love is in the Air, Chapter 15: Dangerous and Sexy

_"Did someone say my name?" A handsome young man was perched lazily on the window frame with his arms crossed. His straight dark hair was neat and his eyes were amused. Black, amused, bottomless pits. He folded his arms on his trademark black leather jacket._

_Damon._

"What are you doing here?!" Elena and Stefan cried simultaneously.

But their words were drowned out by lots of hissing. The vampires were crouching defensively, hands clawed, fangs drawn, with their eyes turning an odd metallic, silvery colour. Even Caine was doing the same. All the others were standing, tense, except for Lady Hannah and Mary-Lynnette, who was covered by their soulmates. Mina and Winnie had witch fire in their cupped hands, sizzling and dancing viciously. Stefan moved to cover Elena protectively, while copying the other vampires in the room.

But it didn't have the desired effect on Damon. He just shifted to a more comfortable position on the window sill and smirked. Elena was strangely reminded of ShayLynn.

"What are you doing here, Damon?" She repeated, voice hard.

Thierry stood up from his crouch and looked from Elena to Damon and back. "Do you know him Elena?"

No one responded.

"Is it so wrong to visit my little brother and my former lover?" Damon finally asked, amused.

Elena's heart squeezed painfully at his words. His former lover. She knew that deep down; she still loved Damon, no matter how much she loved Stefan.

"You shouldn't be here, Damon." Stefan snarled, speaking easily around his fangs.

"And neither should you, _brother_." Damon sneered. "With so many…" he looked around in mild loathing. "… _things _that cannot stand to feed on mere _humans._" He paused. "But I guess you do belong here, don't you? With all the good in the world. _St. Stefan_." He said disgustedly. When everyone just snarled again, he re-crossed his arms and asked sardonically, "Can someone invite me in? It's actually rude to leave someone sitting outside."

There was a heavy silence, before all the Daybreakers laughed at him.

"What?" Damon's dark eyes were flashing dangerously.

Uh oh. It wasn't smart to make him angry in this mood right now. But everyone just laughed again. She even heard Mary-Lynnette and Hannah giggle.

"What's so funny?" Damon sounded like he was going to lose patience.

"Vampires… don't need… to be… _invited_… i – in!" Haruki got between laughs.

Elena saw Damon bare his teeth angrily and narrow his eyes at Thierry, eyes flashing silver, like the other vampires. Strange. She never noticed _that_ before. All the people had stopped laughing, but there were some sniggers occasionally. They were either focused on Damon or Thierry. Thierry's face went blank and he started to open his mouth. Hannah leapt at Thierry, and started to shake at him frantically.

"Thierry! Thierry! Wake up! What's happening?" She asked desperately, looking around the room. Everyone shrugged nervously. Even ShayLynn, who couldn't be surprised easily, was staring scornfully with one raised eyebrow.

Damon smirked and glanced at Thierry. "Invite me in, please. It's getting rather uncomfortable here."

Thierry's lips parted further, and in a dazed voice, he said, "Come in."

Damon slid into the room lithely, looking around. On the other hand, Thierry was blinking and shaking his head slowly, as if he was trying to shake off whatever mind control Damon had used against him. Elena's mouth was open with shock. She knew Damon was powerful, but not _that_ powerful. He could even control the oldest vampire in the room.

James whipped around to stare at Damon, and asked, "That was _you_?"

Damon surveyed James critically. "I would think so. Who else can have that power?"

"I can." Quinn's hard eyes bored into Damon's amused ones.

"Oh really?" Damon murmured. They stared each other down, and suddenly, his eyes flicked to the window, shattering it. Everyone crouched down, or shielded themselves with their hands, snarling. Quinn just stood there, mouth in a thin line. He was tense, but still; motionless as a statue. And even when a piece of glass scraped his skin, he looked it unemotionally without blinking. Elena herself tensed, ready for anything. Damon was here, and that meant trouble.

"Good try, boy." Damon nodded in approval at Quinn. "How old are you?"

Quinn glared coldly at Damon. Elena knew she would melt on the spot if she were captured with those eyes. Those fathomless black holes… actually, she didn't know whose eyes she feared the most. But that wasn't important right now.

Everyone was staring at the two most powerful vampires in the room. None of them moved, except when they breathed. The room was filled with an electrical charge, and it was enhanced by the heavy silence.

"Well?" Damon asked, still amused. He turned his back to Quinn, and spread his arms wide. "And why don't we sit down and talk like civilized people?"

The vampires hissed.

Damon shrugged. "It's your death." He dropped his arms. "You still have a choice, you know."

They just glared. Elena on the other hand, was studying Damon carefully. He looked dangerous in his black clothing. Dangerous and sexy, she thought.

"You're not welcome here, Damon." Stefan said. His voice was full of hatred.

Damon shook his head mockingly. "Is this the proper way to treat your brother, Stefan? Not even a "Hello Damon" or a "How's it going". You should learn how to use your manners." He chided, voice turning silky. Dangerously. He walked up to Stefan slowly. "Should I help you with that, _brother_? Hmm? Help you learn your manners?" He flashed a bright smile, the smile that lasted for about a second. The smile that Elena had missed, for some stupid reason.

Stefan stood there stiffly without saying anything. Elena stepped out from behind Stefan and glared. "You're not invited, Damon." Her heart pounded in her chest as she struggled to try to keep her voice steady. "Get out."

Damon's eyes flickered with some emotion. But before she had the time to make sense of what the hell that was it was gone. Vanished. Replaced with a cold, dark nothingness. His mouth curled into a sneer and he said slyly, "I believe I was." He nodded at Thierry, who was restrained by Hannah's fragile arms. His face was expressionless, but his eyes… the calm, gentle eyes were flashing with a fury she hadn't expected from him. "Your little friend there told me to come in." He flashed another sharp smile. "You heard him. All of you did." He thought for a moment. "Actually he _demanded_ me to come in. I'm just doing what I was told," he said carelessly.

Stefan snarled while trying not to leap at him. His pearl-coloured fangs were drawn once again. Damon took a step backwards; eyebrows raised, and made a "calm down" gesture with his hands.

"You used _mind control_ on him," Stefan growled with eyes like daggers.

Damon started strolling around the front of the room but kept his eyes on the crowd. "You've improved a lot since the last time I saw you, Stefan." He nodded approvingly. "You've been feeding on squirrels haven't you? Ah, but _I_ would prefer something stronger. Like a lion… a tiger… or a hawk." He stopped in front of the broken window, looking outside. "But humans are so much _better_ aren't they?" He spun around in a flash… landing face to face with a glaring ShayLynn.

What's wrong with her? Elena was confused. She wouldn't do something that foolish… She suddenly remembered what Damon had said. _Like a lion… a tiger… or a hawk._ Oh. She bit her lip, worried for ShayLynn.

But she watched with surprise when Damon actually took a step back with a startled look on his face. He then regained his composure and leaned back causally against the open window ledge. "Oh, hi. And who are _you_?" he asked silkily. "You know that wasn't very smart of you," he murmured.

ShayLynn's crossed arms fell to her sides, relaxed. Oh no. She watched with horror when ShayLynn smoothly sidled up to Damon, almost touching him. Elena wasn't sure if she was still glaring with her fierce eyes or if they had turned soft and trance-like. If Damon was controlling her or not. ShayLynn reached out slowly with one hand, softly brushing Damon's cheek with it.

"ShayLynn!! ShayLynn! You're stronger than him! Fight off the mind control!! You're a strong girl!" She sharply turned around and noticed Caine was being held back by the gang. His eyes were hard jewels, glittering angrily, his mouth in a snarl. Elena closed her eyes unhappily and turned back to ShayLynn and Damon. The room was silent, except for the occasional grunt and shout from the people behind her.

Right now, ShayLynn had her hands around Damon's face and his around hers. ShayLynn was still turned away, so Elena couldn't tell if she was being controlled by Damon or not. But she could see _his._ His eyes weren't mocking, cold or grim. They were just curious, and amused. Those dark black pits were watching the girl, who was currently leading him away from the window, wordlessly.

ShayLynn let go of his hand and turned her back to him. Elena could finally see her face. It was relaxed and her eyes were unfocused; misty. Like a veil had covered her eyes from the rest of the world. Elena frowned. So he _was_ controlling her. Shit. Suddenly, ShayLynn's eyes flickered with an emotion – Elena didn't know what. But it was enough to know the real ShayLynn was fighting this mind control. Good, Elena thought proudly. ShayLynn was strong, she could fight. _Yes, ShayLynn's strong. But not strong enough to fight Damon,_ a voice whispered in her mind. Oh, shut _up_.

"Damon…" ShayLynn's voice was soft as a whisper, delicate as a feather. Elena groaned internally. She had heard this tone before. When Vicky had talked after the attack. When Bonnie had a premonition. It was a tone when the person it belonged to wasn't conscious of doing anything.

"Damon..." ShayLynn's voice whispered again.

"Yes, sweetheart?" Damon flashed a 300 – watt blinding smile that lasted for less than one second.

ShayLynn looked up slowly and stood there without speaking.

Damon opened his mouth to ask again…

… but in one sharp sudden movement, ShayLynn kicked Damon in the chest, making him fly out the window.

"_… go rot in hell_," she snarled.

She was breathing heavily when she turned to her fellow Daybreakers. Her eyes were triumphantly glittering, but there was a certain sadness in them. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I should've told you guys what I was planning to do." Everyone murmured their "It's okay"s and ShayLynn visibly relaxed a bit. Elena was grinning happily. Ha. ShayLynn _was_ strong enough to resist Damon's mind control. Beat that, she told the snide voice in her head. Then she got shoved aside onto the couch. But before she could even protest, she realized it was Caine. She sat up and saw him embracing ShayLynn desperately, relieved. ShayLynn was hugging him back with a love she never knew existed within the girl. "Caine, I'm fine," she murmured. But he was still clinging onto her. ShayLynn rolled her eyes but smiled. A genuine smile.

Elena felt a fluttering inside her for their happiness. She reached for Stefan and pulled him close to her, kissing him happily on the lips. She could feel his exasperation towards Damon and his joy that ShayLynn was safe and sound. And that she kicked Damon out the house – literally. When they pulled back, Elena could hear all the soulmates doing the same as she was. Hugging, kissing and talking. Dimly, she heard Rashel's cool voice – turned annoyed – saying, "Quinn, what were you _thinking_? Some strange vampire with greater power than any we've met turns up and you _fight_ him? You're so stupid. You could've gotten hurt." Her voice was trembling ever so slightly, but was quickly steady when Quinn's gentle voice told her that he was sorry, that he was okay, that he was glad _she_ hadn't been as stupid as he was, and that he loved her. Elena snuggled into Stefan's warm arms and stayed there for a while…

…until a loud squawk interrupted the couples. A black crow with glittering rainbows in its feathers was perched at the window, staring at each and every one of them with a black beady eye. Its beak was curled up in a strange way, just like the way a human would curl their mouth in a snarl.

Damon was back.

"How many times do we have to say 'Get out', Damon?" Stefan roared. "Can't you just disappear?!"

Elena tried to calm him down, but she was too angry herself. The crow was looking on with amused eyes. She gritted her teeth. She mustn't lose control of herself, or else Stefan would do the same. And get hurt. Meanwhile, everyone else was gawking with wide eyes.

"This _vampire_ could… _shapeshift?!_" Rashel narrowed her eyes incredulously at the crow.

"Well… yea." Elena didn't understand what was so surprising.

"It takes a lot of power from human blood to be able to shapeshift," Thierry explained weakly.

"He's been draining humans since he was undead," Stefan said coldly. "Drained so many that he can change into a wolf, too."

Elena thought their eyes can't go any wider. But apparently they could. In fact, their eye balls seemed to almost pop out their sockets. The crow looked like it was smirking, and it flapped its wings loudly, for more attention. Cocking its head, it looked at Stefan deliberately and swooped to ShayLynn.

"Watch out!" Elena cried.

But she didn't need to. ShayLynn narrowed her eyes at the bird and swiftly ducked out the way, while grabbing its neck with one hand. She could tell the hold was pretty unbreakable, because its eyes were almost popping out its head in suffocation.

"Go shit with someone else," ShayLynn hissed, narrowing her eyes. She strode to the broken window and gave the bird one final squeeze. The beak opened, trying to find air. Why isn't Damon fighting? Elena thought suspiciously. It wasn't like him. ShayLynn threw the bird outside and turned around, not bothering to look back.

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ShayLynn held her head high proudly. She really didn't get why they were all so scared of him. Yea, he had incredible power, and was the evil mastermind of things, but it wasn't that hard to fool him, making him think that he got her under mind control. Ha. I'm not _that_ weak, she thought smugly.

She was stepping away from the window, smirking, when all of a sudden; a strong arm yanked her back. She gasped as her airway was cut off and instantly recognized who it was when the firm muscled body was pressed against hers. Damon Salvatore, Stefan's brother… and Elena's former lover? Hmm… she would pry later. She turned her attention back to the scene. Damon smelled strongly of his leather jacket, some sort of spice and cologne. Weird. Not at all like Caine, who smelled like cool, fresh air and mint. Quite a contrast to his burning, fierce caramel eyes… wait, why was she even _comparing_ them? She bit her tongue to remind herself to stop noticing guys, when she found her fricken _soulmate._

"I like shitting with _you_," Damon murmured in her ear as he dragged her to the open window and forced her to sit on him. He clamped a hand over her mouth, not allowing her to talk. She hissed angrily in her head and tried to resist him, earning a chuckle from him.

"Let her _go_," Elena stepped forward, eyes blazing.

Goddess, that idiot brings a whole lot of trouble, ShayLynn thought, annoyed. But actually, she was more annoyed that Damon got her helpless and vulnerable than that.

"Why should I?" Damon asked behind her.

"The girl has nothing to do with this. It's just between you and me. So you can let her go and we'll deal with this by ourselves." Stefan stepped up to join Elena too. His eyes were blazing green flames, like enchanted fire.

"No, no." Damon made a tutting noise and he seemed to shake his head. His lips brushed her hair. "You see, she has annoyed me very much. There's no reason why I can't… play with her for a while."

Elena's eyebrows creased together. "_No_. I won't let you."

"What is _she_ to you? She's just some girl who makes you feel _weak_. And has no self control." His voice was oh-so silky. The way she hears other vampires when they prepare to attack her.

Oh, for Goddess' sake. No more time. She narrowed her eyes and focused on making all her adrenaline seep out, flowing through her veins. Ugh, his hold was so strong, and she can't do anything with this effing hand over her mouth... she stopped doing the adrenaline flow, when a sudden inspiration hit her. She opened her mouth and licked his palm, slowly tracing the creases. Ewww… , she groaned internally. Who knows what the hell he had touched before? But that should make it come off, she thought grimly. It did. But her freedom didn't last. He used that arm to wrap around her in an iron grip and pulled her out of the window.

**Tell me how I got Damon's personality, cause I don't wanna disappoint you guys. And I know it's a short chapter, but it's better than noting right? YOU PEOPLE THAT REVIEW ALL THE TIME- I WUV YOU GUYS VERY MUCH.**


	16. It's Too Personal

**Sorry sorry sorry! But here's the chapter! I don't own the Nightworld nor any of L.J. Smith's brilliant characters.**

Love is in the Air, Chapter 16: It's Too Personal

"ShayLynn!" She heard everyone cry out. Caine's voice was the loudest, and it tore at her heart. She can't be so vulnerable and make him worry. Damon transformed back into the crow. She didn't fall, though, because he used his claws to grip on her arm.

_ShayLynn! Transform to the hawk! _Caine sounded really worried and desperate.

_I can't. I have don't have the fricken jumpsuit on anymore_, she sent back, unhappiness seeping through. She didn't want to shred these clothes. Plus, she didn't believe Damon could seriously hurt her.

_I'm coming,_ Caine said, determined.

_Wait! No!_ She tried frantically. But the connection was lost. Oh my Goddess, who gives a _shit_ about these clothes?! She rolled her eyes and shivered with delight as the ripple of change overcame her. Ah… the freedom… Damon's claws weren't holding her anymore… after all, she had no body. Then the transformation process of making her a stronger, deadlier predator. Her keen eyes lit up with challenge and she flapped her wings lightly. But they were so powerful that it took her farther than expected.

_Beat that, bastard._ She sent that thought to Damon, who was still flying in the air, searching for her.

_Caine! I did it! Don't come. I got it under control._ She sent _that_ thought to Caine, who seemed like he was running at top speed to her location. But… the weird part was… his arms were bleeding. Oh Goddess. He had jumped from that window, down to the ground. Even though he knew there were a ton of trees blocking him. _Oh Caine,_ she sighed, swooping back up to scan below her. She couldn't feel Caine anywhere. _Caine, are you okay? Are you still alive?!_ She thought.

And that was when something attacked her from behind. Something rammed into her and she sucked in a deep breath before her wings gave way, making her fall to the ground. _Mmmf_. She had fallen back into her half-and-half form. Eyes still keen, claws intact. Oh shit. She was _naked._ _Then 'shift again, _she thought to herself, embarrassed. But her muscles hurt so much from the 100 feet fall… and she had no more energy to change back. _I guess I can crawl behind a bush or something…_ But before she could, a shadow fell over her. She curled to a safe ball, but glared upwards. It was Damon in his vampire form. He had his arms crossed and his mouth curled to a smirk. And those eyes… she could fall into them and get lost forever.

Damon made a tutting noise and walked in a circle around her, still staring. "I told you it wasn't smart to mess with me," he said. He finished the circle and crouched down over her head. "But you didn't listen. And look at where it got you." He reached down to stroke her hair.

She hissed angrily at him, making her eyes full of hatred. Then she tried to 'shift again… ahhh yes. She ended up as an unsteady hawk, tottering on her feet. But fully clothed with her glossy black feathers. Damon's eyes flashed with amusement and he kicked her. In the ribs. Hard. Air whooshed out her lungs when she hit the ground again. She groaned, the pain throbbing to the beat of her heart. At least she wasn't naked. Yet. She climbed back up, only to fall down. Damon was right in front of her, bending down, to touch her cheek. But the hand quickly became a fist, and she closed her eyes, bracing herself for the punch.

A few seconds passed. Almost a minute. She cautiously opened her eyes. Caine was there, shirt and pants ripped a bit from the fall, and open scratches on his arms. Some blood was trickling down out of some of them. _Caine…_ she thought, pain, grief and happiness flooding her with a strange emotion that she had never felt before. Right now, he was fighting Damon, and it was clear that Damon was winning. He was carelessly firing kicks and punches at Caine, not seeming to even think about it. Caine on the other hand, was coldly doing the same, except he had a few bruises on his arms. But it didn't affect him. When her thought traveled to his mind, he looked over and tried to smile; telling her everything was okay… even when it wasn't. A punch got in Caine's defences and knocked his head sideways. Then he gritted his teeth and turned back to the fight.

ShayLynn cursed and tried to straighten up and help him. He wouldn't be able to defeat Damon alone. She kept her eyes straightforward, but strained to make her muscles work. She made the adrenaline flow again, and finally got herself into a standing position. Yeahhh I can do it! She thought sarcastically. Obviously she couldn't. Meh. Whatever. She flapped her wings silently, testing them out, and finding them okay, she made her way stealthily behind Damon, who was paying more attention to the fight than she'd imagined. She warily flew away, ignoring the protest in her muscles, up into the sky, where she would gain more speed and force. Then she doubled back, and headed straight for Damon's head. Her talons were reached out into razor points, her beak closed for maximum pokie-ness and her eyes wide open for any obstacles in the way.

This time, it was _her_ who rammed into Damon, knocking him sideways, momentarily distracting him from Caine. In sync with her, Caine immediately went to get some wood, as ShayLynn scratched Damon's face with her talons. But the scratches healed up instantly, unlike Stefan's. She even tried to gouge his eyeballs out with her beak, but it didn't really work. Damon was a flurry of motion, trying to attack and defend at the same time. ShayLynn continued on ruthlessly. What was taking Caine so long? And she was getting tired… more and more… tired… soon, her attacks were getting feebler, and Damon's fist collided with her ribs. She let out a cry of pain, but refused to lose this fight. So she continued with newfound energy. _Caine! Hurry up! I can't… I can't keep this up any longer…_ She fired the thought at Caine. _Yea sorry. When I count to three, fly up okay?_ He responded. ShayLynn let out a pipe of agreement and continued to scratch him. His nose… which healed up instantly. Again…_ One…_ His ear this time… healed up before blood could even leak through…_ Two_… His whole freaking face for Goddess' sake… which healed up after a few seconds… _three!_ ShayLynn swooped up abruptly and somersaulted to go back for Caine.

She heard Damon snarl like a feral animal as Caine thrust the wood into Damon's dead heart. He cried out in pain, and tried to attack Caine weakly. ShayLynn flew to Caine proudly and perched on his outstretched arm. Both of them watched as Damon pulled out the makeshift stake painfully and pointed it at Caine.

"Surrender, Damon. It's the best for all of us," Caine said.

Damon's black eyes just looked at him with cold fury. "No." He stepped forward threateningly and raised his hand as if to punch Caine. But his eyes flicked sideways and he grinned slyly. "Catch you later," he said. Then he transformed into the black crow and flew away.

_What the fuck was that?!_ ShayLynn asked Caine.

Caine shrugged. "Come on, let's get you back."

ShayLynn glared. _I don't need you to get me back._

"Fine."

ShayLynn flapped her wings and took off into the evening air as Caine ran behind her, chuckling quietly.

"What happened, ShayLynn? Where did Damon go? Where's Caine?" Hannah and Mary-Lynnette were first at the door when ShayLynn flew in tiredly. She cocked her head and motioned that Caine was beside her.

"Thank Goddess you're okay," Hannah said.

"Thank you ShayLynn." Theirry laid his hand on her head gently.

"ShayLynn! Where did Damon go?" Quinn and Rashel asked at the same time.

ShayLynn just rolled her eyes and ignored them. But she saw them secretly smile at each other. _Now I know what that feels like_, she thought.

"Lynnie!!" Poppy hopped to her happily. "I think we need to get you fixed up, girl. And guess what? I'm going to do it."

"She needs clothes," she heard someone mutter.

"That's _sort of _why _I'm _here, doofus," Mina said. "I got clothes."

"Why do _you_ have clothes here?" Ash asked.

"Because I just do. Now shut up and move."

"Guys, where's Caine?" Haruki asked. Always the alarmed one, ShayLynn thought.

"I'm here." Caine stood outside the doorway panting in his bruised glory.

"I think someone else needs our help more than ShayLynn," Winnie said.

"Hi," Caine said breathlessly.

"Yo man, what happened?" Haruki jumped up and almost ran to Caine, grinning the whole way.

"We fought, and Damon got away."

"Umm... shouldn't they get cleaned up first or something?" Naomi asked loudly.

"Good idea. Keller, you wouldn't mind if they used Winnie for a little?" Thierry asked.

Keller nodded curtly.

ShayLynn found herself transported to one of the mansion's big guest rooms, followed by Mina, Poppy, Hannah and Mary-Lynette. Mina plopped ShayLynn inside the shower and closed the curtain. She shifted back into a human form and dimly heard Poppy ask Mary-Lynnette to get Thea. ShayLynn felt comforted that Thea would be there, so she wouldn't be missing a limb, at least.

"So what happened?" Mina asked.

ShayLynn turned on the shower. "You heard Caine. We fought Damon, even staked him, but he escaped. He's really strong. Stronger than Stephan."

The warm water felt good against her aching muscles. She let out a sigh unexpectedly.

"_Fuck._ Is he stronger than Quinn?"

"Maybe. I don't know. But Quinn's been drinking animal blood instead of human, right? I think Damon's been draining humans since he was undead." Since he can live with wood against his heart for a short period of time.

"How about Delos? Damon can't be stronger than a Wild Power. And I don't think Maggie minds that much that he drink human blood."

"I don't know." The comforting water made her answer just a sigh.

"Anyways, that wasn't what I was talking about." She saw Mina poke the shower curtain.

"Hey!"

"I mean about Caine," Mina murmured.

"Mina! Get the fuck out of here!" ShayLynn didn't want to talk about Caine right now. It was too personal.

"Oh, come on," Mina protested. "Can I just stay here and not talk about Caine?"

"You just did!"

"That didn't count!"

"Yes it did 'girlfriend'."

"Noo, that was just-"

ShayLynn heard the door open.

"ShayLynn. It's Thea." She saw a shadow move inside the bathroom.

"Sup Thea."

"Are you done yet? Thierry wants to get the meeting back together. And Elena wants to see if you're okay."

"Yeah, I'm almost done."

"See you outside."

ShayLynn heard the door close.

"Mina? Seriously. I need to change." ShayLynn turned off the shower and wringed her hair.

"Yeah, I'm going."

She heard Mina close the door. ShayLynn cautiously poked her head out and scanned the space. No Mina. She stepped out and wrapped a towel around her body.

"Get dressed, retard!" She heard Mina yell.

"Where are the fucking clo-"

Oh.  
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Damon's P.O.V

He brokenly flew through the open window and changed back to his vampire form. His body felt hot and weak.

I can't believe I lost to those idiots, he thought angrily.

Damon stumbled to the counter where he kept some extra blood. He opened the drawer and pulled out the bottle, draining it in half a second. He immediately felt his body heal, his energy grow.

Wiping blood from his mouth, he strode to the open window and looked slyly at the lovely mansion.

Damon smiled deviously.

I will get my revenge, he thought.

**So sorry for not updating for such a long time. But now I have to switch back to shorter chapters, since school's here. I **_**wish**_** I can spend more time writing. But too bad. Review wouldn't be bad would it? Or I'll send Damon out to get you!!! :D**


	17. Too Many Smiles is Annoying

**I know, I know. There's no excuse for updating this late. SORRY. I'll let you read now. =) See you at the bottom.**

Love in the Air, Chapter 17: Too Many Smiles = Annoying

Elena's P.O.V

She and Stefan followed the kind blond girl through many corridors and bends before approaching a simple, white door. The girl in front of them opened it gently and stepped in. Elena looked around in confusion. Isn't this room a bit empty to be holding a meeting? The girl cleared her throat gently. She and Stefan spun to look at her.

"Thierry wants you two to wait here," she said in her soft voice. Her warm brown eyes met theirs steadily. "When we're finished, someone will come and get you." The girl smiled apologetically.

Elena nodded. "Thank you… umm…"

"Thea," The girl supplied for her.

"Thank you Thea."

Thea looked around the room a last time and turned, her jade green shift whispering against her skin. She closed the door and they could hear her light footsteps melt away. Elena dropped down to an old comfy-looking armchair, a sigh escaping her.

"What do you think they're talking about?" She asked Stefan.

He was looking at a painting framed above a small table. "I'm not sure… it probably has to do with the Apocalypse."

"Without us?"

"Elena…" Stefan turned and poked her nose reprovingly. "We've only been working with them for three days. We don't have the right to know _everything_."

Elena shrugged and inspected her nails.

"Hmmm…. why do you think we're needed this time?" Stefan asked, turning back to the painting.

"I don't know… maybe they'll promote us or something," she muttered sarcastically. She didn't like it when people hid things from her, or left her out. She definitely wasn't used to it, considering she was the Ice Princess back in her old place…

Stefan turned to Elena. He was just about to say something when the door opened and Thea came in.

"Come with me," she said simply.

They walked through a series of hallways and up some stairs and came to a stop outside a double door. Thea put her hand out to stop them from going any further and put a finger on her lips, telling them to stay silent. Elena could hear excited chatter inside and laughs. She listened harder. She could definitely hear ShayLynn and the gang… and the easily recognized voice of Thierry. Suddenly, the voices stopped and there was a still silence. Elena and Stefan exchanged a glance and Elena stole a look at Thea. She was waiting patiently, her face open and pale in the beautiful sunshine peeking from a big window. Finally, someone spoke.

"I see no dangers. Just of the man in black who will cause us a bit of trouble. He is very powerful, but he will join us eventually." Elena blinked. The voice was pretty. It sounded similar to Thea's, whose voice was soft and kind, and it sounded melodic, like notes strummed together. There was a certain edge to it that made it sound wise and powerful.

"It is safe." The voice rose. "Thea, you can bring them in."

The doors opened. Elena held her breath. She expected it to be very grand and political, with the long table in the middle and everyone sitting in their proper place. But once she got a good look at everyone, she tried to keep her mouth closed. In no way was this meeting formal. In the middle, instead of the expected long table, there were gigantic, old, bunched up cushions spread out all over the place. A small table, usually used for lamps, was at the front of the room, beside Thierry and Hannah, holding drinks and food. The walls contrasted with everything else in the room, displaying elegant roses and their twisting stems. There was a big window behind Thierry, complete with a balcony outside and what looked like a forest.

"Welcome Stefan. Welcome Elena." Thierry was sitting, lotus style on his cushion, wearing long jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt. He was smiling calmly.

"Wussup losers!" Someone called from the corner, followed by a giggle. Elena craned her neck around a black pole blocking her vision and spotted the expected person – ShayLynn. She was curled up beside Caine and was surrounded by the gang.

Elena grinned and waved. She felt movement beside her and turned just in time to see a flurry of wheat-coloured blonde hair and wispy jade green material jump and land on a cushion beside a sandy-haired boy, who lovingly cradled her between his arms.

Soulmates, Elena thought approvingly.

"Think fast!"

Elena looked in that direction and nearly got hit in the face with a cushion, if Stefan hadn't caught it in time. She took the cushion and raised an eyebrow.

"Thanks Quinn," Stefan said.

"No problem," he replied with a wink at Elena.

"Hey Rashel," Ash called from his place beside Mary-Lynette. "You're getting better at training people. Maybe you should help Quinn sometime."

"My fighting skills are far more advanced than yours," Quinn said smoothly.

"Then how do you explain the fact that _you_ were pinned on the ground under _me_?"

"_That_ was because I just came back from a mission." Quinn's eyes flashed.

"_Daybreakers."_ Thierry's voice stopped their argument. "Elena, Stefan, if you would please sit." He gestured around the room.

They walked over to an empty space next to a girl with curly copper hair and a guy with brown hair and dropped their pillows on the ground, plopping on top. Elena was glad she wore pants instead of a skirt.

"So… as I said before, welcome." Thierry smiled at them. "We were just talking about you two."

Elena suddenly felt self-conscious. She took Stefan's hand and he squeezed hers lightly.

"When we have new members join… we basically test them for a period of time to see if they are trustable," he continued.

"We do this to see if they are with _us_ or with the rest of the Night World," Keller said. Her voice rang in the room with authority, but still respectful for Thierry. "We don't want to risk the chance of having a spy in our side."

"You have been tested through the period of three days," someone said. The soft voice, the one that sounded like it was a song. "And both of you have shown us what we're looking for. Both of you have passed the test."

Elena curiously craned her neck around someone blocking her to see the owner of the mysterious voice. Next to Hannah and Thierry, a beautiful girl around twenty years old sat on a cushion gracefully. Elena wondered how she could've missed the girl. She had skin that looked like coffee with cream stirred in and glossy black hair tied into a loose side ponytail. Her perfect lips were stretched to a kind smile for them. Her long eyelashes framed large, warm brown eyes that glowed from within, like there were two candles lit behind them.

As Elena stared at her beauty, she noticed the girl's face was only turned in their direction; her eyes didn't seem to focus on them. She nudged Stefan, still watching quietly. Is she blind? She asked Stefan mentally.

The girl gently nodded to Elena, as if confirming her thought.

Elena recoiled in surprise. If she's blind, then how could she see her movements? She let go of Stefan's hand and tucked her long hair behind her ears nervously.

Thierry misunderstood the source of her confusion and apologized hastily. "I apologize to the three of you – I did not introduce you." He looked past Hannah to Aradia, whose face was tilted in his direction. "Aradia, they are Elena and Stefan, recruited by our beloved ShayLynn, Mina, Haruki, Naomi and Caine."

Aradia nodded to their direction – How does she know?! Elena thought – and Aradia's face lit up. "ShayLynn… Caine… congratulations for finally finding each other."

"Thank you Aradia," ShayLynn said respectfully.

"It's part of our job to help Circle Daybreak find new members," Mina added humbly.

What was with the sudden respect? Elena wondered.

"ShayLynn, did you explain about…?" Thierry asked.

"Uhh… don't think so. We just talked about the basics," ShayLynn's voice floated from the back corner.

"Alright then. Aradia, Thea, Mina, Poppy, Winnie, Gillian… who would like to do the honours?"

A girl on the other side of the room shyly raised her hand. She was wearing all black, and her silky, blazing, white-blond cap of hair swung forward. She looked sort of childish and had the same eyes as Mina – the violet-lavender of a witch.

Elena caught some movement to her left as she turned to face the blonde girl. She glanced that way, and saw Caine trapping ShayLynn in his arms, kissing her, as she silently tried to wriggle away. Elena smiled inwardly.

"May I?" The girl asked the other witches.

"Go ahead Gillian," Aradia said in her serene voice.

Elena rolled her eyes. Here's _another_ name to remember. Suddenly, she felt Stefan's mental chuckle ring in her head. She looked at him. He winked. She squeezed his hand and grinned, looking back to Gillian.

"The witches are governed, or kept in check by something called the Inner Circle," Gillian said. "They hold an amount of power that is almost equivalent to Lord Thierry. The one that holds the most power is the Crone, then there's the Mother and finally there's the Maiden. There are others that help make decisions when necessary, like if they've broken a rule." She hesitated. "Is that all?" She asked tentatively.

"Yes, that's fine. So right now, the Crone is Cyble," Thierry said, his face clouding over.

Elena cocked her head in confusion.

"We would like to introduce you to the Mother of all witches, Aradia," Thierry continued, a sad smile still playing on his lips. He reached for his drink and acknowledged the pat Hannah gave on his hand.

"Hello. We're honoured to meet you, Aradia," Stefan said.

Elena didn't know what to do but smile. She didn't really get what was going on, but it seemed like a pretty big deal for her to be here.

Aradia smiled as well. "Elena, I noticed you were confused about some things. You were confused about my sight." She sat perfectly still.

All of a sudden, Keller's voice rang out from her spot. "Mother Aradia… she's very special." Elena looked over at her and saw that Keller was dressed in a sleek black jumpsuit – Elena wondered if the girl owned one piece of normal clothing at all.

There were some murmured agreements before an awkward pause.

"I am blind," Aradia said bluntly, seeing no one would say it out loud.

"But she sees things clearer than us with our eyes," Thea added smoothly.

Aradia demurely dropped her head down to the floor, as if she were suddenly interested in her feet.

"So is that why you can see me, in a way?" Elena asked hesitantly.

"Yes. I can see things that are happening… in a way." Aradia lifted her head up. "And I have just discovered that I have a gift of seeing things that are bound to happen."

"She just found out she can see the future," Ash clarified.

"Not everyone's as stupid as you, Ash," she heard Quinn mutter.

"I know someone who's worse than me," Ash shot back.

Rashel and Mary Lynette shushed them.

"Which brings us back to the first topic," Thierry said, fiddling with a black ring on his finger. Elena knew that it had to be a design of black roses. "Ever since Aradia found her second sight, she has helped us search Circle Daybreak's future, seeing if there would be any problems once a new member joins."

"When both of you were behind the door, I found no dangers that you bring with you..." Aradia frowned. "Aside from a man dressed in black. He will cause a little bit of trouble, but he will join us at the end."

Man in black… that could only mean –

"Damon." Stefan's face tightened.

"Damon," Keller immediately repeated. "Are you sure he's the guy?" she asked. "No doubts at all?" She became engaged in a familiar topic.

"I'm sure. Wherever I go, he goes," Stefan answered, positive.

"But we don't have to do anything, do we?" Poppy asked. "It's just him against all our teams."

"Poppet," James said gently. "Just a few days ago, he could fight off Quinn _and_ shapeshift. I don't think he's that easy. We don't even know if there are others that are going to help him."

"That asshole is definitely going to come back, man," ShayLynn said. "He said so himself when Caine was fighting him."

"He'll keep coming back. Damon's not the type to let go of any prey." Stefan added to strengthen ShayLynn's point.

"Then we should go after him. Track him, find where he lives, so we won't get any surprises," Rashel said. "We have enough trouble in our hands to deal with him."

Elena looked back at her. She looked fierce and ready to fight, her hair wrapped in another patterned Japanese ribbon-thing.

"He's not _that_ dangerous, is he?" Hannah asked. It was the first time she had spoken in the meeting. She looked worriedly at Thierry. He, in turn, put his arm around her.

"We'll make sure he won't get to you, my Lady," Galen said.

Hannah nodded, but Elena could tell she was more worried about Thierry's safety, not her own.

"He's been drinking human blood since he turned," Elena offered. She hoped it helped them. Suddenly, a thought struck her. What if they wanted him dead? She glanced at Stefan, worried. She didn't want Damon trailing behind them, but she didn't exactly want him _dead_ either.

"Well, he can't be stronger than a Wild Power, right?" A pretty blonde girl, who looked like a princess stepped out of a fairy tale story, crossed her arms. Her violet eyes flashed.

A witch? Elena thought.

"Iliana, I don't think your powers are necessary," Quinn stated coolly. "You're only supposed to use them for the Apocalypse. Besides, we have more people and against him so he'll probably lose."

Rashel nodded in agreement. The soulmates were on the exact wavelength as each other.

"I think attacking is unnecessary," Thea said hesitantly. Elena immediately knew she was one of those gentle, healing-woman kinds.

"I agree," Galen said. He pushed himself from the floor to a cross-legged sitting position. "Why don't we just track him, like Rashel said, and we'll tell someone to keep an eye on him. The Apocalypse is coming and I think our teams should take care of the dragons instead of this random vampire."

A thoughtful silence fell as everyone considered which way to go. Then everyone looked at Thierry for the final decision. He shook his blond hair out of his face and looked down at Hannah. "I think Galen is right," he said slowly. He began talking much more confidently as he thought things over. "We shouldn't get worked up over Damon… while he hasn't even posed as a threat to us yet. We'll find someone to track him, or at least find as much information as we can about him, and we'll monitor him…" He looked at everyone in the eye. "Does anyone disagree?"

No one said anything.

"Then it's decided. ShayLynn, can you and your team track him?" Thierry asked, despite the protests of Keller, Rashel, Quinn and James. "You're still undercover, and it'll work as a disguise."

"We'll be honoured, Lord Thierry," Mina said.

"You can start now." Thierry focused on Elena and Stefan. "Can your two go with them? Both of you seem to know his personality, and I'd like you to give as much information as possible."

"Okay," Elena said calmly.

Elena felt a little bittersweet as she watched Stefan get up, because it felt like before, when they were tracking Katherine back at Fell's Church. And now, they were now officially part of Circle Daybreak, and they were doing their first mission. She sighed and slowly got up from her cushion. Stefan lightly led her between the clumps of soulmates and followed Haruki out the door.

"Elena? Stefan?"

Aradia's voice pulled them back.

"Thank you for joining Circle Daybreak." She smiled.

They nodded respectfully and closed the doors lightly behind them. She could hear Thierry's voice through it though, saying something about receiving news about a new fight that would happen in a week in Buffalo. As she walked down some stairs, she strained to hear Winnie's voice, worrying about the Night World "putting the attacks closer and closer to Canada, where the defence there is ridiculously weak".

Once she could hear no more of the meeting, Haruki immediately started wrestling Naomi, who ran ahead and dragged Mina along, their giggles echoing down the stairs. Haruki growled playfully and leaped forward, chasing them as fast as he can. His feet whispered across the wooden flooring and before long, his blond-blue head quickly disappeared past the bend of the glass stairs ahead. Elena waited for ShayLynn to do something, either yell at them, run after them, or even tell her and Stefan how normal it was, but she calmly walked beside Caine, her head on his shoulder. Elena was brimming with curiosity so she finally asked, "ShayLynn, aren't you going to do something?"

ShayLynn didn't even turn around. "Mmm." It sounded like a negative.

Elena rolled her eyes and heard Stefan's quiet laugh. Ignoring him, she cautiously approached the glass stairs. They might've looked cool, but the way she could see below her was almost terrifying. Adding to that, the fact that there was no handrail increased her fear, so she grabbed Stefan's arm and held on tightly, as if he were the anchor that would keep her from falling down and splatting onto the floor. In response, Stefan slid his arm protectively around her shoulders with a chuckle and pressed his cheek delicately against her head.

_Love, you don't need to be afraid. I'm here with you._

His voice sounded loving, with a hint of being amused. Elena snuggled into his chest, trying to keep her balance at the same time.

"I love you, Stefan," she said in his chest.

* * *

ShayLynn's P.O.V

ShayLynn and the gang stepped out of the huge mansion doors, all of them carrying their skateboards in their hands.

"I will see you all later," Nilsson said as he shut the door firmly.

ShayLynn stepped out into the warming sunshine and stretched, letting her black clothes soak up the sun's rays. She dropped the warming skateboard on the sidewalk and put a foot on it, waiting for the rest of the gang.

"Can you idiots hurry up?!" She shouted.

"Yes _Ma'am_," Mina sneered.

ShayLynn crossed her arms and dramatically sighed, hearing all the others' skateboard wheels clatter to the ground.

"We're good to go Lynnie," Naomi cheerfully said behind her.

ShayLynn pushed off absently and allowed Naomi and Haruki to lead the way, with Caine at her side. Earlier in the mansion, they had agreed to let the siblings to go in front so they can catch the scent of Damon. Caine was assigned the job of scanning everyone's minds, seeing if anyone had seen Damon anytime.

Soon, Naomi and Haruki excitedly started pushing faster and faster, already trailing the scent. Naomi was holding a blank piece of paper Stefan had given them. Apparently, Damon had dropped it when he intruded, and Stefan had kept it in case it was needed. She recalled how strained Stefan looked, and how worried he was. He had pulled her aside to ask her if Thierry was actually planning on murdering him. ShayLynn had taken one look at his face and felt pity for him. Damon was his brother after all, she thought. Brothers hardly hate each other to the extent of killing each other. She had shrugged and gave him a little hope, telling him how Aradia's vision said that Damon would join Circle Daybreak eventually. Lord Thierry wouldn't kill a to-be member.

All of a sudden, she found herself heading towards the more glittery parts of Las Vegas. Not exactly the Strip, but more like the pre-Strip. She vaguely felt impressed by the way the Marus could keep track of the scent. There were so many drunken bastards everywhere and Night People loitering around that if it were her, she would lose track of it.

But no one would catch her saying that out loud.

_Except me._

She rolled her eyes at Caine.

_Aren't you supposed to be scanning everyone?_ She shot back.

_I'm too busy thinking about you._

ShayLynn's lips twitched and she skated faster around the people, trying to outrun Caine. She could feel his amusement as he easily caught up with her. Surprisingly, she could feel Caine's mind searching everyone else's and she could almost see how his liquid caramel aura was surrounding the person's brain to perform the operation. Interesting.

Focusing back to the mission, she found herself skating in circles around the block. She rolled her eyes. Have they found the place yet? She complained to herself. These drunken bastards are pissing me off.

_They're only pissing you off because you need to skate around them._ Caine teased. _And stop being a bitch. They're not drunken bastards… just bastards._

ShayLynn let out what could be called as a mental laugh. Then Caine went back to his inspecting and her head felt strangely lonely without his presence in it. She wanted to continue talking to him but she knew better than that. He was already busy; she didn't want to bother him.

Finally, they started skating _somewhere_, instead of circles. They were going to one of those elegant hotels, the ones that only people with real money could afford. The siblings stopped at the entrance triumphantly and bumped their fists together. ShayLynn stepped off her board and smirked.

"Seems like I've got a pretty sick gang to back me up," she said slyly.

"Oh, don't be so full of yourself," Mina chided.

Caine stepped off and grabbed his board. "Come on guys. Let's go in." He winked as them before going in first.

"Why can't we have a Goddessdamn break first? Geez," Naomi grumbled.

ShayLynn kept her smirk and put an arm over Naomi's shoulder, pulling her inside. She felt Mina and Haruki follow, talking softly. ShayLynn glanced around the fancy hotel and unimpressed, found Caine talking in silky murmurs to the security at the front desk. She quietly walked towards them. She could see the lost look on the old man's face and knew Caine was using mind control on him.

"So you see, it's important for me to know," Caine said softly.

The dazed security nodded and wordlessly printed out a page of information, handing it over to him. Caine took it, folded it in half and passed it to ShayLynn, never breaking eye contact with the man.

"Thanks for your help. By the way… you never saw us."

With that, Caine turned away, leaving the security blinking at the computer screen, confused. He interlaced his fingers with ShayLynn's and once again led the way outside.

_You are one sexy beast when you do that_, ShayLynn thought, surprising herself. That was… bold.

_Thanks._ Caine smirked, his eyes liquid gold.

Looking down at the information, she backed up to a corner and the gang gathered around.

"So apparently he registered himself as Damon Smith. He paid online with a credit card –"

"It's probably stolen," Naomi interjected. When everyone looked at her she shrugged. "He seems experienced in doing these things. Like not leaving evidence. Cause he already used a fake last name… so he probably stole some poor guy's card –" she made a popping noise. "–and then returned it to him before the guy noticed."

"We'll check it out later," ShayLynn said.

She scanned the page, looking for any other clues. Suddenly, she found one. "Yo look! It says the hotel's registered for _two people._" She looked on. "The second person's name is… Bonnie Smith." She frowned. "Wonder who that is?"

"The guy at the desk said the woman was probably his wife. When I asked more, he kept on adding the word 'beautiful' in front of everything," Caine said irritably. "As in 'she has _beautiful_ and fierce brown eyes,_ beautiful_, curly, short red hair and _beautiful_ pale skin.'"

Everyone laughed.

"Does that mean this Bonnie person is real?" Mina mused.

Haruki unconsciously touched one of his blonde-blue spikes. "I think we should give the papers to Lord Thierry first." He kept nervously glanced behind him, as if someone would jump them.

"Can't we check out the bank first?" Mina asked. "It's along the way."

A growl started in Haruki's throat. "We'll go back first. You lazy ass," he added almost inaudibly.

"_You_ –"

"Shut up!" ShayLynn hissed. Then she sighed. "Look, we have to go back. Sorry Mina, but we can't step into the fricken bank looking like this. They'll probably kick us out."

Mina allowed a small smile to spread across her face. "Fine."

As they broke apart, ShayLynn heard Naomi comfort Mina. "At least we got the right information." She was too sweet.

The glitter and neon signs flew by, hypnotizing ShayLynn. Las Vegas. Such a pretty, man-made place. She'd never been anywhere else, aside from her hometown, Denver. But she didn't remember anything from it, just her house. Would she ever get to see any other place out of America? She'd always wanted to go to Alberta. The pictures she'd seen were so… natural. Somewhere she belonged. Greece looked beautiful too, and it was so cultural. But now wasn't the time to go away, with the Apocalypse approaching and everything all screwed up. What about after? She never actually had the full confidence she saw in Jez's face, or Delo's, or Iliana's. Sure, they were Wild Powers, but could they actually stop the end of the world from happening? And what about the last Wild Power? When would they find the person? She sighed to clear her head of those thoughts.

Though Las Vegas was very, very noisy, ShayLynn learned to shut the sounds out. Almost ignore her ears' transmissions and find a peace within herself. That was why she missed the yells of passersby – whom she just called drunken bastards – and the honks of cars.

_ShayLynn!_

Caine's voice pulled her out of her daydream and she quickly focused on what was happening. The Las Vegas crowd had stopped moving, and everyone was at least 10 feet away from her. Her ears "turned on" again and she heard shouts of warning from all sides. That's when she heard a load vroom behind her, to the right. She cautiously cocked her head and out of the corner of her eye, she spied a sleek black BMW coming straight for her. She swore under her breath and picked up speed, glad that it was a downhill. She heard the car's engine follow her.

_Tell everyone to go inside,_ she ordered Caine.

_Be careful, Lynnie._

ShayLynn wasn't surprised that Caine didn't come. She _never_ asked for back up. Never. And it was no use trying to follow her. She rolled onto the road and zigzagged in between cars, thankful that the vehicles are out until night. She heard the car follow her every move, weaving in between other cars skilfully, ignoring the honks. Who _was _this person anyway? She let out a sigh of relief when she noticed the sidewalks empty. If she ever needed to go on it, no one would be in danger, at least.

_Caine. Don't ask me anything unless I talk to you first_, she snarled in her head.

_ Got it, Boss._

ShayLynn glanced behind her, seeing the BMW still on her tail, and made a decision. Her skateboard was in no way a match for a car… she had to hide. She picked up her speed once again and skated to an alley, knowing fully well the car wouldn't fit. Grimacing in the shadows, she stepped behind a tall wooden dresser to hide. Her heart thumped unevenly. The sound of engine died and car doors slammed as the people inside got out. She shifted the skateboard in one hand, used the other to cover her mouth and tried not to pant.

"I swore I saw her come in here," someone muttered.

"Is the end blocked?" A rough voice demanded.

"Yes. She should still be here," the first voice said and cackled, making ShayLynn shiver.

She heard someone sniff the air.

_They have a werewolf._

A thousand curses and profanities that even she didn't know existed filled her head. ShayLynn squeezed her eyes shut. The dog could probably sniff her out. Damn. She had to go out. For all the alleys in the world, she had to pick a _closed one. A closed one._

"Little girl… don't be afraid. Come out, come out wherever you are!" The rough voice jeered.

Oh Goddess, stop me from killing that foul-mouthed evil sonovabitch.

She inched towards the opening, tense for the right moment to escape. There were shuffling and scratching near the closed end. She stole a look. Good. Three figures were faced at the opposite side, searching for her.

_Now._

Holding her breath, she gripped her board tightly and darted to the other side of the alley, keeping to the shadows. She glanced back and saw they were still occupied. She resisted the urge to swallow and tiptoed to the entrance. _Yes._ She was almost out; almost free; the sunlight outside the walls were so _inviting_, pulling her closer and closer –

"ShayLynn! Ah, there you are. I've been looking _all over_ for you."

ShayLynn froze.

_No way._

She slowly turned around to look at his cold ice-blue eyes.

The eyes of a supposed-to-be dead man.

The eyes of a traitor.

The eyes of her brother.

"_Logan._" Her voice cracked.

**Woot-woot! I feel so proud. I broke my record of having the longest chapter I've ever written :D**

**Okay. So don't be mad. I know I suck at updating in a very short time… but I'm trying! I'd been having writer's block lately (for **_**both**_** of my stories) so I was really… desperate. And I don't think that sentence made sense.**

**I think it's a good chapter… I guess. Ha! Yeah right. But do tell… was it good enough? I'll continue trying to update sooner! I promise! *crosses heart* Please review?**


	18. Missing

**I'll talk to you on the bottom. =)**

Love is in the Air, Chapter 18: Missing

Elena's P.O.V

"Are you sure you want to be a fighter?" The self-absorbed blonde vampire yelled at Stefan. "Cause you don't seem to be trying!"

The two vampires were having a duel outside, as training for Stefan. Elena tried to keep her mouth closed as the blonde flipped Stefan onto his back and poked him with a plastic stake. She'd been watching from the start, and though the ash-blonde guy looked lazy, he'd quickly defeated Stefan many times over.

"Come _on_. I have to go somewhere after," the vampire complained.

Stefan wordlessly pushed himself off the ground and got back to his fighting stance. His hair was messed and his clothes filled with grass stains. Elena grimaced. She felt bad that he had to train like this, but this was the quickest way.

"Ash had to train like Stefan when he was a newbie too," a girl said from behind Elena. "But he had to train with Quinn." The girl laughed softly.

Elena looked behind her. The girl behind her had brown hair and matching brown eyes. She's the stargazer, Elena remembered. And the blonde is Ash... which meant that the girl is Mary-Lynette. The girl sat down beside her comfortably.

"Is Quinn really… harsh?" Elena asked. Mary-Lynette's tone of voice seemed to have implied so.

"Let's just say that he and Ash aren't really good friends," Mary-Lynette said, smiling.

Elena looked back to the duel. Stefan was pressed up to a tree. Again. She sighed.

"Don't worry," Mary-Lynette said, touching her shoulder. "Stefan's really good. Better than Ash when _he_ first joined. But of course that's cause he used to…" She trailed off, looking like she didn't want to finish.

Okay.

"So what do you do?" Elena asked to fill up the gap.

"Oh…" Mary-Lynette looked relieved that she wasn't asked to finish her sentence. "Well I just type up any information they need in their computers and stuff, since I was in high school and typing everything. You?"

"I think I'll be doing the same thing." Elena smiled.

"It's an important job," Mary-Lynette said, eyes sparkling with muted pride. "The computers are really important. They have everything they know – the prophesies, the diary entries of the people who fought, the information of specific people…" Mary-Lynette shook her head and the sparkle was gone. "It would be really bad if the stuff's lost or stolen."

Elena nodded. It did sound really important to her. "So what's with the apocalypse and stuff?"

Mary-Lynette frowned. "What do you mean?"

"How are we going to stop the apocalypse?" Elena clarified. "We can't stop the end of the world from happening."

"I know, but apparently a prophesy stated that there are four Wild Powers that can stop it somehow, if they're together." Mary-Lynette shrugged, like they were talking about some drama at high school.

Elena nodded. She remembered ShayLynn talking about that. "So we have all four?"

Mary-Lynette snorted, and then looked vaguely surprised at herself. "We only have three Wild Powers. Right now, we're trying to find the fourth one."

"So… that's it?"

Before Mary-Lynette answered, another girl's voice answered for her. "No. There's also the Night World council sending out random dragons everywhere and witches trying to terrorize the population."

Elena turned around with Mary-Lynette, seeing the girl with the Japanese ribbon.

"Hi Rashel," Mary-Lynette greeted.

"Hey. What's up?"

Unlike Mary-Lynette, Rashel stayed standing. Elena got a feel that she always liked to be prepared to fight wherever she was. Mary-Lynette and Elena looked back to Ash and Stefan fighting. Stefan lost, again.

"He's pretty good," Rashel approved. "Much better than Ash was."

"That's what she said," Elena laughed.

Rashel and Mary-Lynnette looked at her.

"No, not in _that_ way." Elena grinned. "I meant that's what Mary-Lynette said."

"It's fine," Mary-Lynette laughed.

Suddenly Rashel stiffened. "Look." She pointed to Ash and Stefan, who's now joined by the prince-looking guy. He was talking to them in a worried way, his hands waving as he talked.

"Wonder what's going on with Galen?" Rashel murmured.

She didn't have to wait. The guys nodded and Galen quickly ran to the girls' place.

"What." Rashel was sharp and onto business.

Galen ran a hand through his hair. "Caine and Mina are back. Mina says ShayLynn's missing. Nanami and Haruki are tracking her. Lord Theirry wants everyone who's a fighter, tracker, and part of the data imputers back to the mansion."

What? ShayLynn's missing? Elena exchanged a look with Mary-Lynette and they both got up, dusting their butts.

"Got it," Rashel said, and Galen ran into the woods to continue spreading the order.

Rashel gave the girls a small push, not allowing them to discuss anything. "Come on, hurry."

They sprinted back to the mansion, at least they were sprinting and Rashel was half running, half jogging. When they arrived to the meeting room, most people were already there, sitting on the cushions and chatting. Rashel went to find Quinn and Mary-Lynnette went to find Ash. Elena was left to find Stefan by herself. When she saw his searching gaze, she quickly strode to him.

"Hey."

"Hey. What do you think happened?" Elena asked.

Stefan shrugged. He looked around, and the door opened, showing Keller, followed by Galen, the child-like witch with the blonde cap of hair, and a guy with black hair and eyes.

At the front of the room, Lord Thierry and Keller silently communicated and Lord Thierry nodded. He clapped and the room fell in a confused silence.

"So as many of you have heard, ShayLynn is missing." Thierry looked around the room. "After ShayLynn, Mina, Naomi, Haruki and Caine returned from their mission, ShayLynn was followed by a sapphire black BMW M6, courtesy of Haruki's iPhone," he nodded to the Mina. "With the licence plate that reads 395-ASI, Arizona. This means that the person who captured ShayLynn may have come from Arizona, or has been there and perhaps stole a car. Perhaps we can try to track down where the car came from, and take it from there." He looked around the room, his gaze landing on a girl with dark, shiny hair. "Claire, can you please run the search for me right now?"

Claire quickly pulled out a laptop from a white canvas bag and quickly turned it on, drumming her manicured fingernails against the back of the laptop's screen. Thierry turned to address the rest of the group. "Lupe, can you lead some other werewolves to try to catch Haruki and Nanami's scent? Mina said that the two immediately tried to track ShayLynn's scent after she went missing." He took out a slip of paper from his pocket. "They went to Loews Lake Resort. Try looking around there. Also, ask Nilsson to hand you a Bluetooth. We'll keep in touch that way."

A tall, tan girl stood up quickly, brown eyes dancing. "Yes, Lord Thierry." She then gestured to a few others and led them out of the room.

"I got it, Lord Thierry," Claire said loudly. "The car came from Phoenix. He didn't even bother to cover up who he is," she added disdainfully. "Derek Faolan. Logan Creed's right-hand man and the top werewolf in his… posse."

"What does he want?" Morgead asked brusquely. "Revenge for killing his master?" He snorted.

Thierry just nodded, thinking to himself. "Can you find the dealership and hack into their files? Find any contact information."

"Got it already." Claire grinned. "I just need someone to go get the pages."

Before Thierry could do anything, Caine stood up and rushed to get the printouts.

Thierry sadly smiled at Caine's worried face and squeezed Hannah's hand under the table. "In that case, this werewolf has made it easier than I expected. We'll tell the wolves to come back, and we'll send someone to get ShayLynn back."

"Pardon me, Lord Thierry," Caine said quietly from the corner. "But I would like to get ShayLynn back myself."

Thierry nodded thoughtfully. "It doesn't sound that dangerous. You many go." He turned to Quinn. "Quinn, can you accompany him? Two is safer than one."

"No problem, my Lord." He stretched his mouth to a black smile.

"Good. If anything bad happens, please notify us." Thierry smiled tiredly. He got up and stepped to Caine, putting a hand on his shoulder, murmuring something, probably comforting. Hannah came around him and whispered a few words as well. Caine bowed his head, seeming grateful and watched as Lord Thierry and Lady Hannah stepped outside the room.

ShayLynn's P.O.V

_"ShayLynn! Ah, there you are. I've been looking all over for you."_

_ ShayLynn froze._

_ No way._

_ She slowly turned around to look at his glowing sapphire blue eyes._

_ The eyes of a supposed-to-be dead man._

_ The eyes of a traitor. _

_ The eyes of her brother._

_ "Logan." Her voice cracked. _

"Logan," ShayLynn repeated confusedly. "Why –? I thought you were…" she trailed off, feeling sad yet relieved.

Her brother's sapphire blue eyes blazed with dry amusement. He smoothly stepped forward and put a cool finger to her lips. "Shh. We'll have a get together later, Lynnie. Why don't you join me inside?" He gestured to the parked BMW outside.

ShayLynn blinked in the sudden comfort of looking at the BMW.

"You're fricken crazy," she spat, angry at herself.

She backed up to the opening of the alley. Yes, she was surprised that Logan was alive, but she wasn't stupid. She won't let him trick her again. Memories of his betrayal flooded her brain, making her cringe.

Logan stepped forward. His eyes were glowing jewels. "Please Lynnie?" His voice was muted and pleading.

"You think I'm still that stupid nine-year old girl?" ShayLynn hissed. "I've grown up, Logan."

"I don't understand." His voice was innocent, masking the beast within.

"I mean I'm not going to fucking let you hurt anyone I'm close to again!" ShayLynn glared and turned around, dropping her skateboard to the ground, prepared to push off.

"Get her."

Logan's voice was the complete opposite from before. It sounded cold; sharp; emotionless. ShayLynn didn't even look back. She was too busy manoeuvring her skateboard out, and trying not to panic. But before she even got within hands' reach to the opening, two pair of strong hands yanked her backwards, back into the dark alley. Growling, ShayLynn kicked both of them in the stomach to make them let go.

"Stop fighting," she heard Logan say in his cold, detached voice. "It'll only be worse for you."

Ignoring him, she ran back to her skateboard, jumping on and pushing off faster than before. She _will_ get out. Caine was waiting for her.

She didn't even have time to do a second pump, and the two thugs were there again. They pulled her off, avoiding her feet and started to drag her back to Logan. Her heels scraped the gritty floor. Struck with an idea, she planted her feet on the ground, trying to slow them down that way.

"Come on," one of them growled.

"Take the feet. I'll take the hands," a second voice ordered.

ShayLynn felt them change positions. _This is the best time._ Struggling, she managed to kick one guy in the face. She felt satisfaction. One down.

"Stop _moving_," the second voice said, sounding frusterated.

Hell no. She flipped and managed to somehow land on top of him, that guy absorbing all the impact. Not hesitating, she ran to the entrance to retrieve her skateboard. Then the first guy blocked her way again. Rolling her eyes and saying a sad farewell to her skateboard in her head, she jumped up and let her body free in the air, taking the shape that allowed her to escape. Flapping her wings happily, she glared at the idiots below her and prepared to fly her way to freedom. But after the first flap, she heard a click. A prick that brought numbness settled around her arm, and she felt herself losing balance, dropping to the ground.

_They have a tranquillizer gun,_ she thought through the shock and fear.

Luckily, she fell on her numb arm, and not much pain brought her down. ShayLynn got up and ran to her skateboard through the fogginess that was starting to clog up her brain. Flying was no longer an option, with her messed up arm. Feeling rather successful, she got onto her skateboard without falling, and pushed off with determination. She mustn't let her fear rule her brain or she'll freeze up and never escape.

Suddenly, she felt a wind beside her and came face to face with Logan and his beautiful blue eyes. His face was closed off, pale face white in the sunlight. But he still looked like a god. Before she had any time to act, he pushed her off the skateboard with such force; she flew back before landing on the floor and knocked her head hard on the brick wall behind her. ShayLynn groaned. Her arms were scraped, as were her legs. Her hip bone seemed to be on fire and her head felt like it was being squeezed hard. When she lifted her head up, the sky spun and everything was blurry.

_It's not that bad_, she thought dizzily. _I've had worse._

ShayLynn pushed herself up, despite the way everything spun. She squinted and made out a darkish shape in front of her.

_What happened to my perfect vision_, she thought in terror.

Nevertheless, she swung a fist at it, and swung harder when she heard low chuckles. Everything was so dizzy… so blurry… so… so… Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she stepped backwards unintentionally. She was dimly losing consciousness, hanging only by her fingertips. She vaguely felt herself being caught by familiar arms, and a hand stroking her hair back from her face.

"You see, I told you it was easier to stop fighting," she faintly heard Logan whisper gently in her ear, like it was the old times.

_NO! She had to fight…_

"Shh… it's okay," Logan whispered soothingly.

Then ShayLynn couldn't hang on anymore and she fell into a comfortable darkness.

**Ohhh wow. :D I didn't expect that LOL. Let me let you guys in on a secret: I didn't know ShayLynn had a brother either. Heh. Funny how that happens sometimes. So…. tell me how I did! And for those of you who think I'm going to abandon this story – IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. I'm not one of those people to do that. So don't be fooled by my crappy updating, okay? But here's good news: it's summer! So imma update much more quickly and see if I can finish it! And thanks to you readers who don't give up on this story! I love you guys~! Oh and review if you will :) **


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